RWBY: Broken Home
by Dust2Dust17
Summary: Sequel to RWBY: Stolen Innocence. Team RWBY's second year at Beacon begins with a secret mission to Atlas after signs point to the possibility someone at the Schnee Dust Company aided in Cinder's attack on Vale, but a new threat lurks in the shadows that could put that operation at risk.
1. Bad News

A cold tundra-like backdrop welcomed the two military-grade armored vans that drove through the countryside of Atlas. It was a dreary view, not much to see but a frozen plane with Atlas City's silhouette in the rear view mirrors.

One of the guards in the front seats of the carrier let out a long sigh, finally prompting a response from his superior driving the van. "You got a problem, Gibson?" he asked, annoyance in his voice.

"Hmm? What? I dunno what you're talking about, Sarge." he shrugged.

"Don't give me that. You've done nothing but piss and moan about being bored since we left deployment in Vale!" the superior remarked, not taking his eyes off the road ahead and the second transport in front of them.

"Well yeah, I am! We traded hanging around Vale for shuttling prisoners around a frozen hell!" Gibson complained.

"You wouldn't be saying that if you realized who it was we're transporting." Sarge countered. "These two in this convoy had direct contact with Cinder Fall. The one in ours even was her hitman for a bit."

That comment on the man seemed to perk Gibson up. "No foolin'?" he asked, only for a slot on the back wall between them to open slightly, revealing two dark-colored eyes glaring through from the back.

"Your boss is telling the truth, Gibby." Mercury cooed from the holding area he was shackled in. "If you want, I can getcha an autograph."

"Hey, sit back down back there! The only signing you're in for is when your new cellmate slashes his name into your ass when he makes you his bitch." Sarge snapped as he slammed the viewing slot back closed.

"Hah! Good one, Sarge!" Gibson chuckled before the view outside changed slightly, yet enough for him to notice as he checked the rearview mirror on his side. Nothing but a sudden blizzard brought on clouding their vision down to the immediate vicinity of their truck. "Hey, do you see the other truck?"

The older soldier looked into his rear view, not even seeing the headlights of the other truck. "Huh, where'd this storm come from?" he muttered to himself as he picked up the dashboard radio. "Blancford, Tibur, report. You guys still behind us?"

The other end took a moment to respond, static being the only thing the two concerned soldiers heard at first before a feminine voice answered. "We're still behind you, sir. This storm's just really thick is all; we can barely see you."

Sarge gave a small sigh of relief as he answered. "Copy, Tibur. Just stay on the route. Should be coming up on the prison shortly." With that said, the truck continued trudging through the snowstorm. The one behind it, however still stood still in the center of the road, both its drivers dead from bright blue icicles shoved through their throats. Blancford was slumped forward in his seat, Tibur with her hands still clutching the wheel as her punctured neck let blood flow freely. A pristine manicured hand slowly shut the deceased's eyes for her as she took a key card off her person and walked back around to the back of the truck, snow and broken windshield glass crunching beneath her foot. Upon reaching the back, she slid the card through a slot just above the door latch, a click letting her know the door could be opened.

The hulk of a man inside could only be described as intimidating. His short black hair and piercing green eyes glared down at the new arrival that suddenly stopped his vehicle and killed the soldiers responsible for his transportation to a new prison facility. He didn't even shiver as the below-zero temperatures gusted into his compartment.

She stepped into the light of the single fixture above them on the truck ceiling. Pulling her hood down, the man was treated to a familiar sight. Straight black hair that reached her shoulders cascaded down from her head as two sapphire orbs fixated their gaze on him. "Chad Aens, I presume?" she asked.

"It's Chains." he huffed. "Who the hell are you?"

"Come now. That's no way to greet a new friend." she mused in a familiar manner.

"You're no friend of mine." he growled.

"But Winter is, correct?" she asked, a look of intrigue glinting in Chains' eyes for a moment. "She informed me I can pick you up here. I hope you enjoyed your three months of rest, because the White Fang's work with the Falls isn't done yet." she said with a wicked grin.

* * *

 _ **Dust2dust17 presents...**_

 **RWBY: Broken Home  
**

 **A Dust2dust17 production**

 **Inspired by the characters and world created by Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth Animation Studios**

* * *

"Bzzt! Captain! We need to pull up! The hangar isn't open yet!" a high pitched voice screamed as the plane flew closer to the still closed doors.

"Oh dear goodness, no!" the captain exclaimed. "If only someone knew the voice code to open the doors and say... 'Aah!'"

Finally, the hangar bay doors opened, allowing the plane to enter at the last possible second. "Works every time." Ruby smiled as she held the bottle up to Thorn's mouth, her month-old son suckling greedily on the milk within. It took some doing, but the reaper finally got him to start drinking after halfway into the second year's lunch hour. Next to her at their cafeteria table, Yang sat as she chowed down on a thick slice of roast beef and mashed potatoes, her eyes watching her nephew feed with loving interest. Across from them sat their other two teammates, Blake's nose in a book as she picked at her grilled salmon. The fourth member however, Weiss Schnee, seemed more preoccupied with something on her Scroll than either lunch or spending quality time with her teammates. Luckily, her leader was able to pick up on it. "Something wrong, Weiss?" Ruby asked as Thorn spat out the bottle, indicating he was full and ready to be burped.

"Huh? Oh, my apologies." Weiss answered, extending her Scroll's screen for the rest of her team to see. On it portrayed the international news channel with the current story focused on a sudden crisis in Atlas. "This just happened to get my attention when researching something for Professor Oobleck's class."

"What's going on up north?" Yang asked.

"Be quiet, and it'll tell you." Weiss snapped as she turned up the volume, the informative yet monotone voice of anchorwoman, Lisa Lavender, reaching their ears.

"If you're just joining us, our top story this hour is the sudden disappearance of White Fang figurehead, Chad Aens, during his transport to a maximum security prison north of Atlas City. The terrorist was heavily involved in the inner circle of Cinder Fall, the mastermind of the attack on Vale nearly a year ago. Aens' transport was found a mile south of the correctional facility he would be held in during his trial in his home kingdom, his escort killed and Aens nowhere to be found."

"Well, that isn't good." Blake muttered before being shushed again by the heiress as Lavender continued the report.

"One of the other members of Cinder Fall's inner circle, Mercury Black, was scheduled to arrive at the same time as Aens and appeared on time at the prison checkpoint. General Schnee is prompting a nationwide search for this fugitive, as he has been described as 'dangerous and animalistic'. Any signs of Aens are to be reported to-"

The report cut out as a call from the main office of Beacon Academy, Professor Goodwitch's name on the header. The remainder of RWBY felt their Scrolls go off as well. On each of them read the same message: "Team RWBY, please report to Professor Ozpin's office as soon as possible."

"Watcha guys reading?"

The second year team nearly jumped out of their skins as Nora suddenly busted in on their conversation, the rest of JNPR not far behind as they arrived at the table with trays piled high with their own food from the kitchen staff ranging from a vegetarian stir fry for Ren to a Sloppy Joe and fries for team leader Jaune. "We're sorry we're late." Pyrrha apologized as she took a seat next to Yang. "Nora was beginning to have an existential crisis when she found out they stopped serving breakfast and couldn't get pancakes."

"Thanks for reminding me." Nora moped as she slumped into a seat between Ren and Weiss, a simple peanut-butter sandwich on her plate. "Anyway, I repeat, whatcha guys reading?"

"Goodwitch is calling us up to Ozpin's office, sounds serious." Ruby announced as she sat Thorn on the table. "Do you guys mind? It shouldn't be long, and our parents are back at Patch for the day."

"No problem!" Pyrrha cheerily said as she tickled the baby Faunus' feet, illiciting a giggle from the boy.

"You guys go ahead. We'll keep an eye on him." Jaune nodded as Ruby quickly pecked her son on the forehead before leading her group off to Ozpin's tower.

* * *

"It still doesn't seem like much of our concern. James and the military have to have a handle on things." the platinum blonde commented, looking at her tablet to track how much longer it would take the second-year team to arrive.

"You know with this news he sent over that it isn't exactly the case, Glynda." Ozpin leveled. "It'll pain me to break it to her, but this is the only way we can get our answers."

Glynda was about to reply before the creaking of mahogany doors drew her attention to team RWBY's entrance. Ozpin, instead, kept his gaze out the window behind his desk into Vale. The renovations from the damage Cinder and the White Fang had wrought earlier still hadn't completed, yet life was nearly back to normal in the main settlement of the kingdom.

"Team RWBY reporting for duty!" Ruby saluted as her team fell in line in front of the clockwork flooring that made up the center of the office.

"You can come closer, girls. Have a seat." Ozpin gestured as he swiveled his office chair to face them. Four armchairs sat in front of the desk facing him. Each took a seat, the headmaster taking a swig from his coffee mug before continuing on to his reason for calling them here. "I must apologize for disturbing your lunch hour, but I assume you've heard of the current events in Atlas." he explained.

"We we're just watching the news about it. Why?" Yang asked.

"Are you going to send us in to try and help with the manhunt?" Blake asked.

"As much as we know you'd love to help, the military should have it handled." Goodwitch spoke up.

"No, the reason we gathered you here is because General Ironwood has intercepted a message that may have helped them find a link to where he may be hiding out, as well as something that can tie back to the attacks on Vale." Ozpin began to lecture. "We figured you should be here mainly for Weiss' sake."

All eyes turned to a confused heiress in their company. "Why me?" she asked.

"The message they intercepted details someone contacting a facility in Atlas City's industrial districts not too long after it was determined the transport holding 'Chains' was missing." Glynda answered. A tap of her finger on her tablet developed a map on the holographic screen on Ozpin's desk of the district. Weiss was looking into the map, a bright yellow dot indicating where they detected and intercepted the message. Her heart sank as she recognized the location.

"As I said, this also links to how they were able to hack into the systems so easily on Ironwood's flagship." Ozpin explained. "It turns out there was no need for hacking. Mercury Black was able to simply enter a password and upload a virus that overtook all combat systems in Ironwood's control."

"What was the password?" Ruby asked.

"After some technicians did some backlogging, it was determined to be a code used only by certain individuals that developed the computer cores that control Atlas' battleships: the ones who developed it." Glynda explained.

Blake's eyes shifted uncomfortably between her heiress friend and the desk in front of them. "Wait, I remember reading about this for a test Oobleck had us take last year. It was developed fairly recently, wasn't it?" the raven-haired ninja asked.

"Precisely, Miss Belladonna. Here is the password." Ozpin nodded, tapping his own tablet to show the password on screen for them. If there was ever any doubt that it wasn't the company Weiss was hoping it wouldn't be, it was gone. Simultaneously, the rest of her team now understood why they were called in as a team. The screen read a simple four letter and number code: SDC1.

"Miss Schnee, it's entirely possible someone in your family has been assisting Cinder from the sidelines."

* * *

 **Hey, everybody! Hope you like the sequel to Stolen Innocence so far. We had alot to take in this time around: What does this girl want with Chains when she could've got Mercury too? Who in the Schnee family has been helping the Falls? What exactly is the plan this time around now that Cinder is...on ice?  
**

 **...Yeah, that pun was terrible, sorry. Anyway, the answer is something you're going to have to wait and see for. Reminder, this is the sequel to my previous hit, "RWBY: Stolen Innocence", so if you haven't read that first, this first chapter must've confused the hell out of you. Actually, this first chapter probably confused all my returning watchers as well. Either way, I'll see you lads and lasses next time!**


	2. Preparations

"That's impossible." Weiss spoke up flatly, shattering the momentary silence of the room.

"It may very well be some sort of hoax, but as of now, all evidence points to them." Ozpin rebuttled.

"Well, it shouldn't." Weiss coldly replied. "Not only is it impossible. It makes no sense. My father and his personal colleagues on the board of directors of the Schnee Dust Company are the only ones with that password. All of them also despise the Faunus like...like I used to." she paused out of guilt, trying not to look at Blake. "Point being, if they found out one of their own were aiding a terrorist plot, not only that but one involving the White Fang, my father would go ballistic." She stood up from her seat, planting her hands firmly on Professor Ozpin's desk. "If it's one of them, Ironwood better hope he's absolutely sure that this evidence is true."

"He assured me himself that this news has been varified." Ozpin answered, not even blinking at the sudden level of seriousness the diminutive heiress to a possibly corrupt business had brought on. "And I should also let you know this information is highly classified as well."

"You can count on us to keep our mouths shut." Yang nodded while her sister made a zippering motion on her's.

"We will certainly hold you all to that, Miss Xiao Long." Goodwitch spoke up, the sorceress dawning a stern expression. "I don't think I need to remind you releasing classified information will not only result in expulsion, but can also have you under military arrest."

"Uhh, yeah. That's why I said we won't tell anyone." Yang shrugged, unaware if her instructor got the message or not.

"Speaking of which, why are you telling us?" Ruby asked.

Ozpin took another sip from his mug and sighed after swallowing the bitter coffee inside. "As you all know, first year students don't begin going on missions until their second semester here. For second through fourth years, their graduation from that freshman year qualifies them as amateur Huntsmen or Huntresses. We keep them on campus for their studies of course, but at the same time, they're able to partake in missions under supervision of a seasoned Huntsman whenever needed."

Ruby's eyes instantly lit up with excitement. She hadn't been on a full-fledged mission outside of Vale in over a year. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?" she squeaked out of eagerness.

With a nod, Ozpin continued. "I'm assigning you to a special mission that will take you up north to Atlas City. You and your Huntsman will be under disguise of helping the SDC test new equipment, a program Wilheim Schnee put into effect not too long ago. During your stay, keep an eye out for anything suspicious. If needed, assist in any issues that may arise." he explained, briefing them on their task.

"Your instructors have already been notified, and all aspects of this mission will go towards your marks in combat-related classes as extra credit for the time you miss them." Goodwitch added as she sent the last of the e-mails to their respective teachers.

Ruby and Yang were the first to react, exchanging a high-five while Ruby gave a squeal of excitement, before it came to a screeching hault as a thought crossed through her head. "Wait, what about Thorn and Zwei? Who'll watch them while we're gone?"

"Don't worry about that. We have another team that's putting one of our newest programs at Beacon to the test." Ozpin smiled, showing the second year team something on his Scroll. Blake happened to be the first to react to it.

"We have that now?" she asked in surprise.

* * *

"Y-You can't be serious!" Jaune stuttered as Goodwitch lead Ruby and Team JNPR into what was an old office that used to be full of physical copies of old files before renovations occured and moved them to another building. What replaced it seemed like the background of a daytime children's show painted on the wall. It was carpeted with a thick shaggy rug and scattered with padded furniture such as a toybox and a couch in front of a desk. Sitting at said desk was yet another familiar face.

"Welcome to Beacon Daycare!" Velvet smiled as she turned to face the new arrivals, her cheery expression then masked with surprise as the second in command of Beacon Academy marched into the room ahead of them. "Oh! Professor Goodwitch! W-What can I do to help you?" she stammered.

"Nothing's the matter, Miss Scarlatina. I'm just dropping off your volunteers for the time being." Glynda nodded, gesturing to the four somewhat confused members of JNPR as they entered the room ahead of Ruby and her son. "As well as one of your first customers."

"Oh, hiya, Velvet!" Ruby smiled gladly as the rabbit Faunus walked up to them.

"There's the Rose's little Thorn!" Velvet cooed as she got a closer look at Ruby's infant son. "You dropping him off as you go to class?" she assumed.

"Actually, Professor Goodwitch here said you could watch him while my team's away on mission." Ruby clarified.

Jaune and Nora did double takes as that news reached their ears. "Wait, so they get to leave the kingdom..." Jaune started.

"...While we're stuck here babysitting?" Nora finished, disappointment and envy clouding over her thoughts.

"You two should consider this as important as the mission RWBY is about to embark on. Your help here is not only going towards your Home Ec marks, but will help you learn off-the-battlefield skills if you ever raise your own families." Goodwitch explained. "You will take over Miss Scarlatina's duties during her class periods, as well as help around here while she attends to the children under our care."

"And dogs too!" Yang announced as she lead Zwei inside, the Corgi barking happily as all his friends gathered around him.

"To be honest, I didn't even know we had this added to Beacon." Ren finally spoke up, as well as said what everyone else was thinking.

"After the events of last school year, as well as some Huntsmen having children of their own too young for school and in need of supervision, Ozpin reached out to the committee to start a boarding program here for those children to be watched over while their parents are away." Goodwitch explained, gesturing to Thorn as Ruby placed him down to play with a plush rabbit as an example.

Almost as if on cue, another figure entered the modified office, talking rather loudly into her Scroll that was tucked between her shoulder and cheek as she carried another familiar face in along with her. "No, Mom. The flight can't wait five minutes while I drop Emre off at home." Marron argued with the Arc matriarch via the phone line. "Because it's at least fifty miles off the path we're flying, and jet fuel doesn't grow on trees! ...Wait, they really have those in Vacuo? Wow...Look, I promise next time, you can watch him, but right now, I gotta go. Love you." she finished as she hung up, looking around the room and grinning as her blue eyes locked onto a matching pair with the same color hair as her. "There's my little bro! How ya doing, Jauney?"

"Marron? What brings you and Emre here to Beacon again?" Jaune asked as he stepped forward to face the second oldest of his seven sisters, who happened to stand just two inches taller than him.

"Ah, you know; can't bring a baby into a battlefield now, can I?" she shrugged, letting her now toddler-sized son, Emre Irons, to explore the new surroundings of the overnight daycare.

"My sister here can protest to that." Yang boasted, gesturing to Thorn as he began cuddling the plush rabbit he had found.

Marron furrowed her brow at the young Faunus before shifting them to the diminutive brunette who carried him. "You're Ruby Rose? That little girl who stopped Cinder Fall?" she asked.

"Ehehe, sort of..." Ruby blushed, not exactly sure how to handle the praise.

"Hey, no need for embarrassment. A lot of the Huntsmen I work with were really impressed with the fact a teenage mom was able to thwart a terrorism plot. Nice work!" Marron nodded, shaking Ruby's hand, the reaper still barely holding on as she gingerly returned the gesture.

"Wow, t-thanks." Ruby stuttered, before getting to the topic on hand. "So you're off on a mission of your own?"

"It's actually a good case of circumstance you're here right now, Mrs Arc." Goodwitch spoke up. "Marron here will be supervising Team RWBY on their upcoming mission."

"May Monty have mercy on your souls." Jaune joked.

"Ah, shut up, Jaune. You know your girlfriends here are gonna be just fine under my watch while we're away." Marron teased back, ruffling her younger brother's hair while the Rose-Xiao Long sisters just awkwardly laughed. Pyrrha seemed to be the only one not even smirking at the obvious ploy to embarrass the knight. "Either way, we shouldn't be taking too long. Our flight outta here leaves in forty-five minutes." she said, turning to the two sisters.

"Yeah, Rubes. We should probably get ready. Weiss and Blake probably already-huh?" Yang stopped herself as she noticed her younger sister now kneeling in front of her pet dog and son, trembling slightly.

"Y-you two will be good for your uncles and aunts in JNPR, right? A-and Miss Scarlatina too?" Ruby whimpered as she craned her head down and kissed her son's forehead. This wasn't the first time she had left Zwei in the care of another for an extended period of time, but it was the first for her to do so with her month-old child.

"Okay, Ruby. No time to be sad. You'll see them again in a few days..." Yang said, trying to cheer her sister up.

"A few days? I'll never make it!" Ruby bawled as she was carefully dragged out, Thorn more confused what that was about than upset his mom was going somewhere without him. Zwei didn't seem to mind either as he found a comfy spot on the carpet next to the couch and plopped down upon it to take a nap.

"Good luck!" Pyrrha called to them as they left, just a long whine from Ruby being the reply.

"Um, is she gonna be alright?" Velvet asked aloud, still hearing Ruby uncontrollably sobbing from down the hall.

"She'll get over it. Every mom's like this when they leave their baby alone for the first time." Marron shrugged as she knelt down to say goodbye to her own son. "Be a good boy while Mommy's away, and play nice with the others." she started before Professor Goodwitch started dragging her out. "Hey! Glynda!"

"We still need to go over the briefing with you as well, Mrs Arc." the sorceress stated flatly.

"B-but I didn't finish my goodbye!" she whined as she was tugged out the door, leaving the five young adults, two small children and a sleeping corgi to their own devices.

"Bye bye, Mama!" Emre waved as his mom was forcibly removed from the day care.

"Well, now that that's over with, we can begin getting them situated." Velvet smiled, clasping her hands together.

Team JNPR looked down on the children before looking between themselves. "It's just taking care of children. We've done it before with Emre; how hard can it be with two?" Jaune asked aloud. As if on cue, Thorn's lip began to quiver. Before long, the tiny Faunus started bawling uncontrollably.

"I'm going to say 'very'." Ren answered.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Team RWBY's dorm room, Weiss and Blake had already began packing a single bag each for the upcoming mission. It had been the first time since the new year at Beacon Academy began that the star team of their class, quite possibly the whole student body, would be departing their room to go out on a mission.

It was a different dorm than last year. Not only did the second year student dorms happen to have more space than the first year rooms, but they came with a built in kitchenette in one corner with a small electric stove, sink and miniature fridge, as well as a small bathroom with a small shower stall for more privacy than the public restroom showers in the freshman dorms. Also, because of certain circumstances, the large closet present inside it was converted into a small nursery for Thorn, complete with his crib and a small changing table made out of a low hanging shelf already built into the former storage space. Instead of a closet, the Huntress team were given a duo of drawers that each half of the team shared, Ruby and Weiss sharing a bunk bed and drawer on the left side of the room and Blake and Yang sharing the one on the right. Blake was just going through one of her own and packing an extra set of clothes and ammunition for Gambol Shroud while Weiss stopped as she found something on the bottom of her drawer where she kept her nightgown and undergarments that made her look longingly at it. What she held was a folded photo of her family from when she was very young. Her father sat in the middle of them all with a slight smirk on his face with a tiny two-year old Weiss sitting on his lap, grinning happily at the camera. On either side of them stood her sister and mother, the mother of the two heiresses standing leisurely above her husband as she seemingly forced a smile. Winter had her hands folded over her chest and seemed jealous of the toddler version of her younger sister that she got to sit in her father's lap over her.

"Hey, Weiss. Do you happen to have any of that Elemental Dust ammunition you can spare?" The raven-haired girl asked, only for her query to be met by silence. "Weiss?" she asked again, this time, succeeding in gaining the heiress' attention.

"Hmm? Oh. I don't believe I have anymore." Weiss said, quickly stowing the photograph back under her pile of socks and unmentionables.

"It's fine. The SDC should have all the ammunition we need anyway for our 'testing'." Blake shrugged, dismissing the care towards her packing and back to her comrade. "Are you okay? You seem preoccupied about something."

"It's nothing, Blake." Weiss lied, trying to focus more on packing her items she'd need for the mission in an immaculately white backpack she got as a birthday gift sometime after Vale's occupation from Coco.

"Weiss, the last time somebody said it was nothing to worry about, Ruby ended up pregnant." Blake deadpanned, not believing her friend at all.

"Well, in my case, it really isn't anything to concern yourself with, Belladonna!" Weiss snapped, then surprising herself with her own outburst. "I-I'm sorry..." she quickly apologized, wringing her hands with a nervousness that was way out of character for somebody like herself.

"Now it sounds like something I should be concerned about." Blake said, putting her backpack down and turning to Weiss. "Out with it."

Weiss let out a defeated sigh as she faced her Faunus partner. "It's just...I'm not really looking forward to seeing my family again." she began to explain. "You remember last year? When we found out you were part of the White Fang?" Weiss asked, Blake not even needing to nod to showcase her remembrance. "You also sort of saw how my family reacts to not just the White Fang, but Faunus as a whole."

Blake squinted at those words. "You don't need to remind me how your dad thinks of people like me or some of our friends." she deadpanned.

"I know, but I still worry about how he'd react if he found out not only my teammate, but one of my three very best friends was one." Weiss explained. "Growing up, he kind of drilled it into me and my sister's heads that Faunus are scum, lowlife savages that deserve all the hate they get. Meeting them face to face, people like you, Sun, Velvet, Mei, even Adam helped change my opinion. Even my sister sort of lightened up when her team leader from when she attended Beacon was a Faunus." She smirked somewhat as she thought of some of the happier memories with Blake and the others she shared. It vanished as she got back on track towards her point. "My dad, however, can't be swayed so easily. With the time he was brought up in, and the White Fang constantly attacking his company, he despises all Faunus with a deep-seated hatred stronger than Yang's distaste for having her hair cut."

That actually made Blake gulp. She knew the Schnee family wasn't particularly fond of Faunuskind, but full on scorn wasn't her expectation.

"It's what drove my mom away from him. All his anger towards how the White Fang were ruining the reputation of his company, robbing shipments, killing executives...He never struck her or my sister or me, but it got to a point where she couldn't take him being so angry all the time. She left him after I turned six. I've only seen her three times since then. It doesn't hold a candle to what the rest of you had to go through, your mom dying while having you and Ruby's during a mission..." she trailed off, not needing to explain any further how hard it was for her to explain her family to someone else. "Don't even get me started on my older sister."

"You always struck me as the older sister of your family." Blake commented in surprise.

"I wish." Weiss scoffed. "She and I are the exact polar opposites of Ruby and Yang's bond. She always had a dislike for me since I was born, as if she was envious that I was more of a daddy's girl when I was her age than she was. Even when I tried to do something nice for her, it was met with her bitchy attitude and complete disregard for the fact I actually was trying to do a kind thing for her. There was one time I accidently spilled juice on her favorite gala dress and she got angry at me for it. I tried making it up to her by making her an apology bracelet, but she just screamed at me to go away and broke it in her hand right in front of me." Weiss ranted.

Now it was becoming clear to Blake why Weiss was so adamant that Yang was doing such a great job being by Ruby's side the day Thorn was born, despite the blonde brawler having doubts of her actions. Experiencing the sisterly bond the Rose-Xiao Long girls shared made Weiss feel not exactly envious of the fact she and her sister didn't get along, but more so as if she had missed out on the opportunities to fix that type of relationship. "Wow...I'm sorry I pushed the envelope there." Blake apologized, not meaning for Weiss to go into that detail of her family history like that.

Weiss gave another exasperated sigh before replying. "No, it's fine. I should have gotten that off my chest a long time ago." she admitted. "Just promise me one thing: keep your real self as hidden as you normally do." she asked. Blake almost looked offended by Weiss asking her to do such a thing, but after considering the fact she already wore her bow around enough, despite most of Beacon knowing who she really was now, plus she'd be going to one of the most Faunus-insensitive places in all of Remnant, she nodded.

"You don't need to worry about that." Blake smiled knowingly. "But what about you? There's no denying we'll be around your family alot during this assignment."

"I'll be okay as long as nothing can provoke me." Weiss answered.

"And if they're guilty if what Ironwood found was true?" Blake asked.

Weiss looked down, clenching her hands at the thought of her own family backing a terrorist plot that potentially threatened the whole world. She didn't get to give her answer, as the sound of somebody barging into the room drive their attention to the exit door to the hallway slamming open against the desk it sat next to. In walked Yang as she held Ruby by her collar and makeshift scarf, the younger looking distraught over something. "What're you two lazybones doing standing around?" Yang teased. "We gotta finish getting ready!"

"What's the matter with Ruby?" Blake asked, looking down at the brunette who sat upon the floor, staring longingly at a picture on her Scroll taken of when they first brought Thorn out of the hospital, Zwei sniffing the bundle of blankets he was in as Ruby knelt down to introduce the two. "My babies..." she whimpered. "Ah." she simply stated as her answer was given for her by Ruby.

"C'mon and cheer up, sis! We get to go on missions again now! Start packing already!" Yang encouraged as she dove into her drawer, gathering up a pile of clothes and supplies in a heaping pile in her arms and shoving them unceremoniously into a backpack. Ruby sighed as she depressingly complied and went to gathering her own supplies.

"She's right. We should finish up and meet up with out Huntsman." Weiss commented, returning to her drawer and gathering her combat skirt and blouse to change into out of her academy uniform.

Blake took a moment to watch Weiss with a concerned expression before returning to her preparations. Before long, all bags were packed, all the Huntresses were dressed in their combat clothing, and all weapons had been prepped for use. With a simultaneous nod, they slid their backpacks onto their shoulders and left their dorm, locking the door on their way out.

* * *

 **And the mission begins!  
**

 **Now, I hope you enjoyed it and I don't think I'll be posting as many author's notes at the end of the chapters as I did in SI, but an issue has come to my attention that I can't let slide due to the fact I think how ridiculous it is.**

 **Recently, I've become an admin for a fanpage dedicated to Ruby on Facebook. While in a private chat with the other admins, one brought to my attention that people are planning to boycott RWBY altogether due to the fact Vic Mignogna was cast as Uncle Qrow's voice actor. Personally, I've never really majorly watch anime, so I had to ask why they wouldn't want a seasoned anime voice actor to be part of RWBY. I don't think you need to imagine my surprise when I got the answer that he is accused of being homophobic and involved in pedophilia.**

 **Confused because, once again, I don't watch alot of anime, I did a little research. I came across what they were talking about after doing some Google searching. Apparently, the man is accused of being homophobic due to the fact he doesn't autograph anyone who asks him to sign homoromantic fan art, and the fact he is a pedophile due to the fact his career in anime portrays some of his characters doing odd or inappropriate things with younger female characters. There is even a petition being issued to Funimation to take him off the English dub cast of Free!, which I can assume is an anime that showcases homosexual content.**

 **If these accusations are true, then it's a shame. However, this evidence is all circumstantial. To quote a TV Tropes comment about his homophobia, "** **Mignogna plays several "hot bishonen" male characters that yaoi fangirls love to make do weird things. Mignogna said that he did not think that the characters that he played were gay. Girls got pissed and started a cult against him." In our current society where homosexual partnerships are a hot topic across the globe, it's very easy for something one person says to be taken out of context. He may have meant he studied these characters during working on the shows they were in, and their actions don't strike him as something a gay person would do. Besides, the internet has a history of creating all sorts of romantic and erotic material that portrays both homo and hetero relationships for literally anything. In other words, Rule 34.**

 **And a pedophile? I looked up some of the material that accuses him of it. It's all his characters' actions (And when I say all, I don't actually mean every character he's voiced. Don't get confused on me.) that could explain it. Do we blame people who portray the Ku Klux Klan or Adolf Hitler in media for being white supremacists? Do we accuse people who voiced terrorists in cartoons like American Dad or South Park for being extremists?**

 **I'd like to point out a moment in an episode of Family Guy where Brian is petitioning gay marriage to become legal in Quahog, but Lois is unsure of signing it. In the episode, she admits that she holds no grudge against homosexuals, but doesn't understand why she wouldn't want to sign the petition. Maybe Vic is like Lois in that sense. He doesn't think that it's wrong, but he's just unsure of it. If he is such a homophobe, why would he take an offer to voice a character in Free! that may very well turn out to be gay? Innocent until proven guilty is the point here people. And if you're one of those people who do plan on boycotting a great show like RWBY for such a reason, well that's your opinion, but ask yourself this: Do I really want to give up a show I like just because someone who works on it may turn out to be an asshole? If that's the case it is with all works of media, I'm surprised everything people like Mel Gibson, Charlie Sheen or Paris Hilton have ever worked on hasn't been boycotted.**

 **I'm sorry. That rant went way longer than I expected. I just find it stupid that people actually plan to give up watching RWBY just because of these accusations. What's your take on it? Tell me in the comments and I'll see you lads and lasses around.**


	3. Welcome to Atlas

"Excellent work, gentlemen!" the eccentric and ever energetic Bartholomew Oobleck commented commented as he stepped off the Bullhead, allowing the second-year Huntsman team to file out sluggishly, the whole of them exhausted from trying to keep up with their caffeinated chaperone. "We cleared out those Grimm heading towards the city in record time!"

"With all due respect, Doctor Oobleck..." Cardin panted. "Next time, can you slow down at least a little?"

"Slow down, Mister Winchester? Being slow would've allowed those creatures to have an opportunity to strike us. A true Huntsman should always be quick on his feet to dodge the strikes of his or her opponent!" Oobleck exclaimed, oblivious to the exhaustion of his students as they followed him out of the aircraft.

"Yeah, but then we still would have caught our breath even after getting extracted fifteen minutes ago!" Dove complained.

"I think I had a bout of heart palpitations..." Russel commented, rubbing his chest as Sky just simply fell out the door, asleep before he even hit the ground.

"I see..." Oobleck noted as he looked over Team CRDL. "Mister Winchester, I'm aware as team leader, you coordinate your team's training regiments. I suggest increasing endurance and working more on your cardio during your workouts. As for this exercise, I'd say you all have done a more than adequate job and have passed this mission with flying colors. Now, I must be off to get back to teaching. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon!" he finished, his mouth moving faster than Ruby's semblance, before rocketing off back to the campus.

"...There's no way he doesn't lace that coffee with speed." Russel remarked as their Huntsman vanished in a green and tan blur.

"Forget about it. Scoop Sky up, and let's go rest." Cardin ordered as the group trudged back towards the school, barely moving as four young Huntresses started towards them.

"You guys look like death warmed over." Yang commented. "What's gotcha guys beat?"

"Oobleck, that's what." Dove answered, while Sky suddenly awoke with a snort, finding himself leaning on both his and Russel's shoulders, already confused how he ended up there.

"Did I get the touchdown, Coach?" he slurred out of exhaustion.

"Uh, sure did, bud. Go hit the showers." Cardin gestured to Beacon as the halberdier complied and shuffled off, leaving the other seven confused and somewhat empathetic. "So where are you headed off to?" the mace-wielder asked as he turned to Ruby.

"Up north to Atlas on a secret mission." Ruby answered.

"Ruby! You aren't supposed to tell them the nature of a secret mission, you dunce!" Weiss whispered harshly.

"Ah! Um, I mean up south! To south Vale to do...southern stuff..." the reaper tried to correct herself, smiling awkwardly while the rest of her team simultaneously facepalmed.

"Well, good luck and stuff with that. Imma go take a nap." Russel said as he and Dove started heading back to the dorms, Cardin waving them off.

"So, uh, you girls gonna be doing anything 'up south' that may involve that guy who nearly cut me and Jauney Boy in half?" Cardin suggested.

"That's classified, Cardin." Blake deadpanned.

"But if we run into him, we'll tell him you said hello before we beat him back into his cell." Yang cockily commented.

"I'd prefer a cage at the zoo, but whatever floats your boat. Have fun." he commented in a somewhat racist way before leaving to rest with the rest of CRDL.

"Well, he's gotten nicer..." Ruby noted.

"But that zoo comment seemed uncalled for, even for a White Fang officer..." Blake seethed, hating the fact she was defending a criminal who tried to harm her friends.

"Eh, one problem at a time with Cardin." Yang commented. "So where's Marron? She's supposed to be here by now."

"Speak of the devil, and she appears, Xiao Long." a voice commented as RWBY turned to face her. From a first glance, she almost looked like a more hardcore female version of her younger brother. The white and gold breastplate she wore over a mustard-colored hoodie looked just like his. A streamlined pauldron sat on her left shoulder, the sleeve of her hoodie on that side ripped off and replaced by bandages coiling around one arm and fingerless gloves adorning that hand. Her legs were protected by military uniform pants and boots, a set of white kneepads with gold trim on each leg, although the right one had a large scratch gashed into the paint. Her weapon of choice was slung over her back. It seemed to be a hellish hybrid of a halberd and a mortar launcher. Ruby's jaw nearly touched the ground at first sight of it. Though, with her bulky weapon taking up space on her back, she now had to carry her backpack by hand, which she had already been doing as she walked up to the group. "Uh, is your sis okay?" she askef as she noticed Ruby dropling slightly as her eyes were locked on that weapon.

"She's just a bit of a weapons afficanado." Yang explained.

"Really, over Aurum Wing? It's not that special." Marron commented, unslinging it with her free hand and holding up for Ruby to get a better look. A finished mahogany stock sat at the bottom, the trigger to it built into its end with the base of some sort of flintlock firing mechanism, all of the metal in it painted, or possibly forged from, gold. Even the blade, muzzel, and bolts connecting it to the wooden base were crafted from the gaudy metal.

"To be fair, she even gushed when she saw Crocea Mors." Blake noted.

"That wasn't gushing over it!" Ruby protested. "I just said I like classic styles!"

"Moving on!" Weiss exclaimed, stopping the arguement before it began. "Are we going on mission now or what?"

The more experienced of the group seemed taken aback by the heiress' sudden ouburst, not expecting it, but chose to answer anyway. "We are, but our ride hasn't arrived yet." she answered.

The whole second year team looked on either side of the landing pad. Almost all the spaces were occupied with Bullheads being refueled or prepping for takeoff, as well as an air ferry that shuttled passengers between Beacon and Vale sitting at the center of the docks. "But, every plane is ready to fly..." Ruby noted.

"Yeah, but we got a special one coming just for us." Marron explained, pointing towards the sky. Coming down towards the empty landing pad in front of them was a much different Bullhead than the others. It was painted white as snow, glinting in the afternoon light. As it landed, Weiss grimaced as she recognized the Schnee Dust Company logo plastered on the passenger door. It opened carefully, and without the usual creaking sound on the more commonly used models. Out stepped a young but grey-haired man wearing a flight attendant's uniform, a white dress shirt and pants with an icy blue vest over it. "Good afternoon! You are the team Mister Schnee is expecting..." he started an introduction before he trailed off, focusing on one individual out of the five. "Oh! Miss Schnee! Forgive me; I wasn't aware you were part of the team who accepted this task!" he apologized, bowing before her.

"It's fine, Nickel. Just take us home." she nodded distantly as she walked past him and onto the aircraft.

"Um...of course, Ma'am." Nickel nodded as he turned to the rest of the group. "May I take your bags, ladies?"

One by one, the remainder of the task force handed their backpacks off to the flight attendant for him to place in the cargo hold before entering the ship. Immediately, it was heaven compared to the dropships they rode in before. They were hit with the scent of fresh cotton as they entered. The seating area were velvet lined seats, all reclinable and eack positioned next to a window with a small shelf to use as a table in front of it. Six sat in the front, with a comfortable yet expensive-looking couch and a self serving minibar at the rear of the fuselage. Weiss was already sitting on the backmost chair on the right of the aisle, Ruby sitting across from her while Blake, Yang and Marron immediately helped themselves to drinks at the minibar. Even though she could read Weiss like a book, the blank expression on the white-haired duelist's face baffled her. Wasn't she excited to be visiting home?

"Something wrong, Weiss?" Ruby asked, trying to figure it out for herself.

"Nothing, Ruby. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to try and take a nap before we arrive in Atlas." Weiss said coldly, reclining her seat back to a near-flat position.

"Well, alright then..." Ruby nodded hesitantly as the sound of the door sealing drew her attention to the front along with the other three girls as Nickel turned to face them.

"Settle in, everyone. This flight's going to take about seven hours before we reach the Schnee Estate. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight!" he cheerfully explained as he bowed into the cockpit to give the passengers their privacy as the ship took off for home.

* * *

Flashbulbs and the cacophony of dozens of reporters talking at once surrounded the three podiums in front of Atlas City's municipal courthouse as two men in military officer's uniforms and one in a formal policeman's outfit covered in commendation pins stood in front of them.

"General Ironwood! Can we get any updates on the manhunt for Chad Aens?" one reporter called out over the sea of voices.

"We have been working around the clock for the last five hours working within a fifty mile radius of the location we found the transport in." Ironwood commented. "It's a slow process, but any moment now, we should at least be finding some sort of clue. Next question."

Out of the crowd, another journalist was chosen. "General Schnee, is there any possibility of the fact he is hiding out somewhere in the city already?"

"Slim to none." The older general boasted. "As everyone here knows, nobody, not even the men and women of our armed forces, can get in or out of Atlas City without going through the proper checkpoint identification procedures at each of the gates. Also, Commissioner Slate here has assured me the city's police department have scanned the entire city. Nobody has reported him sighted in any district so far."

The policeman to the left of the High General focused his dark grey eyes on the crowd. "And before you all ask, this event will not cease the trial of Mercury Black. It will go as planned, and you can be certain that once we find this bastard, he's next to be in that courtroom." the commissioner announced, the individual watching the television's holographic screen losing interest as he heard the clacking of ice against ice behind him.

"Enjoying your accommodations?" she mused, walking up to him.

"I've had better...but I suppose it could be worse." Chains shrugged, looking at the blank mask that mirrored the design of his old one that sat on the desk in front of him along with the tv set. Around him was nothing but the backdrop of an old Atlesian army barrack in the abandonned outpost much farther east than anyone involved in his search was looking. The lone window in between the desk and his bed had a nice view of the city's outline in the distance miles away across the coastline.

"Glad to hear it. Now if you wouldn't mind, there's someone who is about to arrive that I'd like you to meet." she said as she motioned for him to rise. She lead him out of the barrack and into the snowdrift covering the courtyard that surrounded the former coast guard outpost. Everywhere, White Fang guards were lifting boxes and sorting them among others as they unloaded them off of an undercover garbage barge on the dock below. At the side of it on a frost heave sat a lone Bullhead, with three individuals surrounding it. One stood in a grey fur cape with a bronze vest and dark orange dress suit underneath, his greying charcoal hair combed back as he locked his bright orange eyes on his colleague: a White Fang member with a medium build, two caustic green eyes glinting as he looked him over, the rest of his features covered by a hood and a black mask that covered his nose and mouth. The third seemed to be losing interest in their conversation, as she tilted her emerald cloak's hood down and looked around with wonder at the snow around them. They all turned to watch Chains and his company walk to them. She wore a sleeved blue dress that went just past her knees. A small white cloak kept her warm from the harsh cool temperatures on the frozen bay as her sapphire eyes seemed to light up her features under her long ebony hair that stopped at her shoulder blades. "Here he is, just as asked." Violet announced as she lead him up to the group.

"Excellent work, Violet." Doctor Fall nodded as he turned to the White Fang member. "Just as promised, Kai. I assume this seals our deal?"

"Indeed it doessss, Doctor." Kai nodded as he turned to his lieutenant. "It'sssssss good to have you back, Chad. Thingsssss have been...unpleassssant since the failure at Vale. I hope assssss the new field commander of the White Fang, you will sssssee to it we don't have a repeat of it?"

"Of course not, sir." Chains bowed. "But, if I may ask, me? A field commander?"

"With Adam'ssssss betrayal, ssssomeone had to sssssstep up. Are you willing to be that ssssomeone? Or did the good doctor here have you liberated for nothing?" Kai asked, leaning in.

"No, of course I will take that position." Chains assured his leader. "I will comply to the doctor's orders as if they were yours."

"Ssssee that you do." Kai nodded. "I mussssst be off. The council back in Vacuo will need to know about thisssss." he finished as he turned to reenter his Bullhead. "Oh, and before I go..." With a snap of his fingers, an initiate inside the dropship came out with a large crate marked with many caution labels. "You're going to be needing a replacccement weapon. That should sssssuficccce."

"Oooh! A present! Open it!" Viridia chanted with excitement as the new field commander of the White Fang pried it open, carefully inspecting its contents before shutting the box.

"This will do fine. Thank you, sir." Chains nodded. With a nod back, the doors closed and the dropship took off for its home. Once it was away, Chains closed the box and stood to face the Fall family. "What are your orders for my men?" he asked the father.

"Actually, Mister Aens, you will be taking orders from Violet here." Doctor Fall motioned to his eldest daughter, who almost raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"I'm sorry?" she asked, unsure if she had heard him right.

"You have already done us a great service establishing contacts and freeing our key to keep the White Fang on our side. I just ask you don't go wrong where your sister already has." he explained, noting his second eldest daughter's failure in Vale.

"You're forgetting something, Father: I'm not Cinder. I don't make mistakes." Violet said confidently, her father confirming that with a glance over her and the Faunus now under her employ as he turned to the barge.

"See that you do. Come, Viridia." he said, not even turning back to face her.

"Aww, but Dad! I wanna play in the snow some more!" Viridia complained as she followed her father onto the watercraft.

"Now isn't the time for play, little sister." Violet called. "What we have planned for the next few days time will have us working to the bone to pull off." she said before the barge began to pull away from the dock. Once it did, the two heads of this operation turned to return to the courtyard.

"So what's our objective here?" Chains asked.

"You'll know of it soon enough. There's still some preparations to be made for Phase Two." Violet explained.

"Two? What was Phase One?" Chains asked.

"Getting you freed." Violet deadpanned. "Now isn't the time for questions. There's work to be done."

* * *

 _"Hey, Winter! Do you wanna go outside and build a snowman with me?"_

 _"Not now, Weiss. I'm busy."_

 _"But, you've been saying that for the past three days!"_

 _"Just go away! What part of 'I'm busy' are you not getting through that thick skull of yours, dolt?!"_

 _"...Okay, bye..."_

 _Just as Weiss left to turn down the hall, she heard something crash and a shriek from her older sister. She ran back into the room to find a man in a white tunic and a mask over his face trying to restrain Winter._

 _"Weiss, don't just stand there! Go get help!" Winter ordered, only for her young sister to be frozen in fear. "Weiss? WEISS!"_

 ** _"HEY WEISS!"_**

The heiress awoke with a startle as she nearly fell out of her seat, Yang bursting into laughter as she watched the girl flail about in surprise.

"Hahahah! Oh man, you should've saw the look on your face! I gotta wake ya up like that more often!" Yang cackled while Marron shook her head at the antic.

"Yang, c'mon. That wasn't that funny." Ruby scolded as she turned to Weiss, who seemed to be startled more than she usually would be by a rude awakening such as that. "You okay?" she asked.

"J-just a weird dream is all." Weiss stuttered as she gave a stretch.

"Oh, so it is a good thing that I woke you up!" Yang smiled.

"That and the nice view of the city." Blake commented as she looked at the view from her seat in front of Weiss. Everyone turned to look out the left side of the plane as the capital of the kingdom of Atlas came into view. It easily dwarfed Vale by a longshot, huge skyscrapers and multiple deck highways filled the city as it sat in front of a massive cargo port on the coastline. To the far right of it stood a lone mansion of its own on a huge, gated off part of land from the city and alienated by a long curvy road. The aircraft lurched as it turned towards it, beginning its descent as it got closer. Soon enough, the ship had touched the ground, and Nickel exited the cockpit to be the first to welcome them.

"I hope you ladies enjoyed the flight! Welcome to the Schnee Residence at Atlas!" he said cheerfully as he unsealed the door for the first time in hours, letting the cool air rush into the cockpit, sending a shiver up everyone but Weiss' spine. As they stepped out, their breath became visible as they realized the temperature on the outdoor landing pad was much lower than they expected.

"Geez, i-it's c-c-colder than P-Patch gets in the w-winter..." Ruby shivered, folding her arms over her chest and hugging herself for warmth.

"Eh, I've been in colder." Yang shrugged, her natural heat being a pyromaniac providing all the warmth she needed.

"Let's just get situated and grab our bags." Blake said, unfazed by the temperature change as she and Weiss stepped out, Marron and Nickel trailing them.

"No need. I'll have my servants here take care of it."

All eyes turned to the three men walking up to the landing pad from a heated stone path that lead directly to the mansion's back terrace. Between two older gentlemen in black tuxedos stood a tall man in a white business suit and short white hair. "Welcome home, Weiss." he smiled warmly upon one individual out of the six.

"Father." Weiss coldly nodded.


	4. Warm Welcome

The other four just stared awkwardly between the two Schnees. One seemed genuinely happy to see the other, while the other seemed to care less he was standing in front of her. Deciding to break the tension, one stepped forward to try and break the ice better than how it was beginning as the two butlers by Mister Schnee left his side to assist Nickel. "It's been awhile, Mister Schnee." Marron greeted cheerfully.

"Marron, likewise." the gentleman nodded as he shook her hand. "I'd say last time we spoke face to face was yours and Remy's wedding. How's he been?"

"Good, good. He missed you when he and Winter did business some time ago." the Arc smiled. "Speaking of which, is she around?"

"Somewhere around the estate." he answered before looking over the other Huntresses behind her and his daughter. "But where are my manners? And yours as well, Weiss? You've yet to introduce me to the team under your leadership." he grinned with pride.

Weiss gave him a confused look before deciding to correct him. "Actually, Father, I'm not the team leader."

His features fell slightly at that resolution of his confusion, but whatever smirk was left on his face did not falter. "Ah, my mistake. Which one of you is then?" he asked.

Ruby stepped forward shakily, almost catatonic to be meeting one of the most powerful men in all of Remnant. "Th-that would...um...be me, Mister Schnee. R-Ruby Rose." she responded, giving a small wave. "P-please don't be mad that Weiss didn't get the leader position. She's been great at her support position on Team RWBY and-"

"Please, Miss Rose." Mister Schnee spoke up, shutting her up from her rambling. "I'm not mad at all, not even disappointed Weiss wasn't the leader. It was just a misunderstanding, and I will trust your word in the fact she's been doing her very best." he said with a reassuring tone. "And I trust that you're doing the same as her leader and teammates."

"O-of course, sir." Ruby nodded in relief. "Also, this is my sister, Yang, and our other teammate, Blake."

"It's an honor to meet you, Mister Schnee." Blake lied through her teeth.

"Please, call me Silbern." he smirked. "Now what are we doing out here in the cold? Come inside! Everyone!" he boomed as he lead the Huntresses down the path in between two square frozen lakes on either side. As they walked up to the massive mansion, Ruby cast a glance at Weiss again. She was once again unreadable, like she had honed the ability to shut off all emotion. She secretly was nervous that the heiress was keeping something from her, but something else caught her eye as they started to walk into the rear foyer of the estate. Off to the corner in between the dual staircase in front of an elaborate painting of Atlas City stood someone with familiar orange curls with a bow attached to the back of them. She wore a familiar color scheme of beige, green and black, but in a new style that gave her a more flowing dress with luminous fixtures in the threads that sent a glowing green light down her legs and around her waist. She also wore some sort of binder around her upper arms and chest, and a set of sleeves on her arms that matched her sleeveless blouse and black and green choker. She turned at the sound of others entering the room and surprising them with her appearance just as much as she was surprised at theirs.

"P-Penny?" Yang gasped.

"Oh! Hello, friends!" Penny gasped back in surprise and joy as she rushed forward, hugging Ruby as soon as the two were within arms reach.

"It's so good to see you again!" Ruby smiled as they broke their embrace.

"The feeling's mutual! We'll need to catch up during the dinner party!" the robotic girl smiled.

"I'm sorry, dinner party?" Blake asked.

"Yes. My secretary overlooked my schedule and set a date for my brother and his colleague to come over for dinner the same day our Huntsman testing team was supposed to arrive." Silbern explained. "I was planning on firing her for it, but considering it's my daughter's team, I'll let it slide."

"We would love to attend, but we really should be getting somewhere to lodge during our stay." Marron kindly declined.

"Nonsense! We'd love to have you all stay with us during your mission." All eyes turned to the balcony in between the staircases to another woman. This one was tall, even without the platform shoes she wore. Her snow white hair was pulled into a single bun atop the back of her head, with half her bangs hanging over one of her periwinkle eyes. "Hello, Weiss." Winter greeted as she began to descend the stairs.

"That's Weiss' sister?" Ruby whispered.

"Hubba hubba..." Yang murmured, blushing slightly before a sharp elbow to her side snapped her out of those thoughts as Weiss stepped forward.

"Winter, it's...nice to see you again." the younger of the two sisters nodded while the elder descended the stairs. While neither sister seemed overly excited to see one another, Marron was almost overjoyed as she rushed forward, pulling Winter into a hug that nearly bulged her eyes out of her skull.

"And it's REAL nice to see my best friend again!" Marron squealed before breaking off the hug and giving the businesswoman some breathing room once again.

"Oh, please, Marron. We've only been apart from each other a few months." Winter waived it off, as if the halberdier was overreacting.

"Try eleven months! Last time we spoke was at your godson's christening!" Marron rolled her eyes.

"You were pregnant?" Silbern asked, unaware of that information.

"Yeah!" Marron and Ruby said simultaneously, causing an awkward silence as Winter and Silbern both exchanged intrigued glances between the two.

"Well...we'll have to discuss that during dinner." Winter noted, finally breaking the silence as she lead everyone into the dining hall, where two others were already waiting, both dressed in their casual military uniforms.

"Ah, Team RWBY! It's nice to see you again." General James Ironwood smiled as the group entered.

"Likewise, General." Blake nodded.

"Silbern, I didn't expect more guests to be arriving." Commander Niklaus Schnee noted, no offense intended towards the surprise guests.

"Niklaus, they're the team of my daughter and a long-time frien of Winter's. I simply couldn't turn them away." Silbern pointed out. "Besides, look at all this!" He gestured to a dining table the length of a Nevermore's wingspan, covered in a white tablecloth moe vibrant than anyone on RWBY had seen before. Plates and silverware sat in front of numerous seats spanning the perimeter of the table, while in the center sat large portions of savory meats, bowls of salad, pitchers and bottles of the finest drinks in all of Remnant, and chromatic pans filled with different portions of sides to accompany it all. "It's plenty for even more! I'm even considering letting Nickel join us!"

"By all means, then! I'd love for my boy to be our guest as well!"

"Wait, Nickel the flight attendant's your son, Commander?" Yang asked.

"He is." the strategist nodded. "My younger brother here offered him a top notch position in his office as an executive, but he was adamant about actually working for a living other than having his dream career handed to him. A steward on his private aircrafts was as high as he was willing to go. Not ideal, but an admirable way of going about things."

"Yes, well, if you don't mind, I'm quite famished from my exercises earlier, and would like to begin." Winter announced as she took a seat by the head of the table.

"Of course. Please, everyone, be seated so we may begin dinner." Silbern announced as he took a seat at the head of the table with Winter on his right. Next to Winter sat Commander Niklaus, General Ironwood, Penny, and a seat was saved for Nickel next to her as a servant went to fetch him. On Silbern's right sat Marron, then Weiss, Blake, Yang, and finally Ruby. "Now, Marron, you were telling me you're a mother now?"

* * *

"Oh! And here he is with his uncle and his team!" Marron gushed, showing off the picture on her Scroll to Silbern and Winter of the day JNPR took care of him while she was out on mission.

"Well, I must say, he's a handsome son of yours, Marron..." Silbern said, trying to hide his regret for asking after a forty minute delving into the Arc girl's life of parenthood, complete with almost a hundred pictures from her phone. Others spent the time making small talk among themselves and actually enjoying the meal the personal chefs of the Schnee family had painstakingly prepared for them. "...but I promised to learn more of Weiss' team's adventures at Beacon Academy so far." he finished, looking towards his youngest with intrigue.

"Silbern, with respect, I thought I told you of their hand in the victory at Vale." Ironwood noted.

"Of course, James. I'm referring to everything before it though." the tycoon clarified before turning back to Weiss and her team. "That is if you ladies don't mind."

"Oh, we don't mind!" Yang smiled as she went into detail explaining their initiation ceremony, each girl adding details how they became partners, then followed up by the night at the docks. Luckily, for Blake's case and the second-year team usually keeping it a secret of Blake being a Faunus, they left that detail out. It then was followed up by investigating the White Fang's activity, their first mission, and of course the breach of Vale in the first attack by the White Fang, which both Winter and Silbern were very interested to hear about. Finally, they went into their explanation of their hand at helping free Vale of Cinder's occupation and thwarting her plan to awaken the Alpha Grimm underneath it that could've ended catastrophically for the whole world. By the end of it all, the group was applauding for them.

"I have to admit, Weiss, your team's adventures certainly put mine and Marron's to shame, and you've only been at Beacon a year so far!" Winter exclaimed. "Not only stopping one terror plot, but two in one year?"

"It was just part of the duty we were given." Weiss shrugged. "We had to protect Vale. Who knows what the White Fang would do with power like that?"

"It certainly makes my blood boil imagining those barbaric Faunus with that sort of asset." Silbern nodded, a touch of venom in his words that made Blake squint.

"Not exactly every Faunus is as bad as the White Fang, you know, Mister Schnee." Blake spoke up. "Some of out friends who we liberated the kingdom with are Faunus."

"And I don't doubt that they helped immensely with the plan to free it, but you must admit, Miss Belladonna, those White Fang bastards are a menace to society." Silbern countered, his voice nor his demeanor changed, but Weiss could see the fire in his eyes at the thought of that debate beginning.

"I agree with that, but they find it the only way they can earn respect with the way people treat them." Blake replied.

Silbern stood silent for a moment before his eyes rested on someone else on the table. "Miss Rose."

"Um, yes?" Ruby asked, surprised at his sudden calling on her in the middle of her taking a sip of her glass of milk.

"You said you've recently become a mother as well. Ironwood informed me on a mission you went on before the occupation was where...it began?" he paused, trying to find the right words. Both Blake and Ruby's features fell, the stoic knowing that her leader's answer would cost her the discussion and the reaper having to remember that day.

"Y-yes. During a scouting mission, I was captured and assaulted by a White Fang officer..." Ruby answered shakily. She didn't even need to explain how, regardless of the polite company or not. Nobody even dared to ask more about it, while a few judged between Silbern and Blake who had won the discussion. Yang was doing her best to keep her anger for the head of the household to even make that remark. Everyone they knew was well aware how hard it was for her sister to talk about it. "But despite it, I kept the baby, and he's doing well under my care."

"It must be hard though." Nickel remarked. "Being so young and already a mother? And not to mention the fact you're still in training."

"We've been able to balance it so far." Ruby countered.

"Enough, please." Silbern spoke up as he stood up from the table. "I must apologize, Miss Rose. I know it must be difficult for you to talk about, and of course, have to remember, and I'm sorry for using it as leverage in this discussion." His eyes fell upon Blake after that, Weiss looking down as she was torn to decide who to support in it. "However, if you don't mind, I would like to excuse us all from this to go over your assignment."

"Of course, sir." Marron nodded as everyone stood up from their seats. As they did, a buzzing in Commander Schnee's pocket brought his attention to a Scroll, whose message content brought his undivided attention.

"I'd love to stay to chat with you afterwards, brother, but James and I must be off." he apologized as the two leaders and Penny began to depart.

"An update in the manhunt for Aens?" Yang asked with interest

"I'm afraid that I can't answer that for security reasons, miss." the commander shook his head. "Good evening, all." he nodded as he left, James and Penny behind him and his son calling his farewell as he departed from the room.

"Wait! Penny!" Ruby called, stopping the android girl before she left. "Will we still be able to hang out again before we leave?" she asked.

"Oh, um...I don't believe so, Ruby." Penny said sadly. "I work for General Ironwood almost full time now, so I'll be busy these next few days." She felt a pang of empathy as Ruby's expression turned downcast. "But, I''ll text you when I'm not!"

A slight smile returned to Ruby's face at that option. "I'll take that over nothing." she smiled as her friend returned it.

"Penny, we're leaving!" Ironwood called, prompting the cybernetic girl to hastily catch up with the two gentlemen. As she left, Silbern and Winter motioned for the Huntresses to follow them. They left the dining hall from a different door than they entered from while a pair of butlers began to clean up the table from everyone's meals. They were lead through a corner hall with plenty of priceless pieces of artwork adorning the walls and displayed on quartz pedistals before stopping in front of a large white wooden door. Upon opening it, Silbern lead the six women inside to his private study. It was a large home office, with a set of comfortable looking lounge chairs in between a faux-Ursa skin rug and in front of a large Arcadian-wood desk with the Schnee family crest carved into it. All of it sat with bookshelves and family portraits on either side of it, a large window taking up the entire wall behind the desk and offering a bleak look at the towering mountains of Mantle in the distance behind it and over the large stone walls that separated the estate from the outside world. He took a seat behind it with Winter at his side while Ruby and Weiss sat in front of him on the chairs, Blake, Yang and Marron standing behind them.

"I hate to get to business straight after a filling meal such as that, but it can't be postponed." he started. "As you know, a few years ago, I started a program with the Huntsman Association to open my testing facility to second-party defenders of humanity. Most of my company's products go to use in the field for both the Huntsman and the military. It's only fair that both get the opportunity to test them before we place them on the market." he explained.

"Oh, kinda like how we fought that Paladin that Torchwick somehow got his hands on before the Breach." Yang remembered.

"Those models were stolen from a train shipping them to a testing facility by the White Fang." Winter explained, her father's eye twitching from the memory of how angry he was that shipment was robbed from him.

"Either way, you'll know what you're in for then." he said, stopping Winter from going into more detail. "The products we have lined up for you will be remotely piloted or have training droids controlling them. They shouldn't be life-threatening if anyone's worried, but we're still going to need you to sign these for legal reasons." He reached into a drawer on his desk and pulled out a set of five identical waiver forms and a pen for them to sign with.

"Waivers?" Ruby asked, reading one over.

"Like my father said, for legal reasons. By signing them, you'll be acknowledging that our company is not liable for any injuries or worse you experience on the testing floor of our facility, nor that you will be allowed to discuss any classified material you come across during the tests to the outside world in public or private." Winter explained as each member of the team took turns signing the documents, Silbern pausing to stop Weiss as she was about to be the final one to sign her waiver.

"No need, Weiss. As a Schnee, you have no obligation to sign this. You're part of the company too after all." Silbern smiled, putting the blank waiver back into the drawer it came from before handing the four signed ones to his eldest.

"Of course. What was I thinking?" Weiss chuckled sheepishly.

"You weren't obviously." Winter murmured, earning a glare from her younger sister.

"Winter." Silbern scolded, before returning to the matter at hand. "Make sure those get sent over to the legal department's file room at headquarters."

"Yes, Father." Winter complied as she took the waivers and marched out of the room, Nickel already waiting outside.

"Nickel? Is there something you need?" Silbern asked from his desk.

"Nothing, Uncle. I'm just informing you that the Bullhead is refueled and restocked for its next outing." Nickel reported. "The pilots took care of it as you invited me to join you all."

"Very good. You may retire for the evening then." Silbern nodded as Nickel left.

"Speaking of retiring, where can we rest, Mister S?" Marron asked nonchalantly.

"Oh, right! I almost forgot that you accepted the offer to stay here." Silbern exclaimed. "Weiss, the guest rooms in the east wing should be prepared by now. Show your team to them."

"Of course. Good night, Father." she smiled as she went around the desk to peck him on the cheek. "It's good to be home."

"As it is to have you here, my little Snowflake." Silbern smiled back before the two heard somebody struggling to keep her snickering to herself. "Is something amusing, Miss Xiao Long?"

"N-Nothing!" Yang replied curtly, holding her breath.

"Okay, well, it was nice spending time with you, but we're all tired, so good night!" Weiss spoke quickly as she ushered everyone out and shut the door just in time for the floodgates to release, confusing the businessman by what he heard on the other side of the door.

"BAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Little Snowflake? Really?"

"Just shut up and follow me, dolt!"

"I think it's a nice nickname for you."

"Nobody asked you, Ruby!"

* * *

 **And that's another one down! New design for Penny comes from Madgamer2k7, and the look for Silbern Schnee from how DashingIceCream envisions him. Credit for both those appearances goes to them and I claim no ownership to it.  
**

 **Penny = art/The-Verdant-539498118**

 **Silbern Schnee= post/126304867437/he-did-not-sign-up-for-this**

 **I'm fans of both those artists, and Dash has actually done some commission work for me and my OC team, STRM, in the past, so give them both a look if you haven't seen their work. It's all fantastic.**

 **OK, back on topic. Seems that Weiss' family isn't as bad as she has been making it sound. Odd, isn't it? Things have been kinda lax so far, so these next coming chapters will be a little more exciting. Until then, I'll see you lads and lasses next time!**


	5. Out Past Curfew

**Hey guys. Dust here to tell you all this fic isn't dead; I've just been busy. Like I said in my last one-shot that I posted last week, "Hall of Success", I went back to college recently, and because I don't want to fail classes again because I was working too hard on getting Stolen Innocence finished instead of actually giving a damn about my classes. So to avoid that, it may mean updates will come alot slower than normal. Also, I sort of wrote myself into a corner with the original draft of this chapter and had to scrap the entire thing and restart it, as well as rework part of the storyline because of it. Either way, here's where things start to get ready to pick up, so to tide you all over until the action really begins, let's get through this one, and I'll see you lads and lasses next time!**

* * *

Weiss stood awake in her own room, the one she spent most of her young life in with only her own thoughts, for the first time in over a year. Even with her absence, the help had kept it spotless. Not even a speck of dust or grime had accumulated under her queen-sized bed or carved-marble chifferobe. Her friends had gone to sleep in their own beds in the guest rooms down the hall a long time ago, but she was still awake.

Ruby made the comment that her family's actually nicer than the heiress had made them out to be. Sure she had her traumatic experience from last year used against Blake in an argument, but it wasn't as if he was blatantly verbally abusive or even disappointed in his daughter at all. Weiss knew though. Winter was always the focus of his attention. He threw her a celebratory soiree when she was accepted into Beacon. Weiss barely got a word of congratulations. Winter was praised by their father when she discovered her semblance in the ability to control glyphs. Weiss didn't even have an eye batted towards her when she first showed her ability to her father. She knew her dad never really gave much of a care to what she had accomplished. He couldn't even see the glimmer of interest in his eye when she explained how her first year at Beacon went compared to when Winter recalled her experience to him.

The weight of those thoughts gave the room an overly stuffy feeling. She changed back into her combat skirt and blouse, taking a moment to check outside. The midnight guard change was occurring soon, so she had time to sneak out as she normally did whenever she needed some time away from her family. Flicking open the latch of the window, she carefully crawled out her window and out into the cold side yard of her massive mansion, using a glyph to cushion her fall as the landed on the iced-over ground before moving to crawl over the wall before the guard change began between the two security towers visible from her window. What she wasn't expecting as she crawled onto the wall walk was somebody waiting for her as she leaned against the tower to her right.

"I was wondering when you'd start to leave." Blake commented as she stepped into the light above the door leading to the tower's compact interior.

Weiss nearly jumped at her sudden appearance. "How'd you know I was leaving?" Weiss asked.

"I could sense your Aura since we landed earlier today. You've been pushing down alot of negative emotion to the point some of us were able to sense it without even needing to find a sign you were exhibiting." the hidden Faunus explained. "You're family's much nicer than you told me they were."

"You've seen them when we have company." Weiss interjected. "Wait until it's just us three. Then the claws come out...metaphorically speaking."

"I saw a glimpse of it." Blake nodded. "Using Ruby as an example to win our argument during dinner was way out of line."

"I agree. You know I would've defended you, but there's no arguing with him." Weiss confessed.

"I know, Weiss. It's something I can keep calm about for now." Blake reassured her teammate. "Now, where do you usually run off to when you sneak out at this hour?"

* * *

The walk into Atlas City took a long while before they came across the downtown district. Even so late into the night, the streets and sidewalks were plentiful with cars driving around and pedestrians walking in and out of bars and 24-hour stores. They finally came to a stop outside the ground level entrance to a multistory structure, the albino duelist leading her hidden friend to a staircase that descended into a basement level doorway.

"This is where you used to go?" Blake asked, her nose wrinkling at the scent of urban filth from the overflowing wastebasket with rotten food and cigarette butts adjacent to the entrance.

"You were expecting something along the lines of a five-star resort, weren't you?" Weiss asked, not even waiting for an answer. "I couldn't with my father's business partners owning just about every lodging in the city. Luckily, there was one day I found this place, and the owner let me spend as much time as I wanted here."

Blake looked at the sign just above the door before they walked in. "Grump Bros. Deli and Convenience?" she muttered as they were welcomed into the brightly lit mini-mart with the ringing of a door chime, which didn't seem to do much for the burly hairy man slumped at the counter as he was in a deep slumber.

"Jon! Wake up, you dolt; you've got customers!" Weiss snapped as the man awoke with a snort and a startle.

"Whassa whosat...Oh, hey! Little Weiss-y came back to visit!" the awoken deli owner smiled cheerfully as he came around the counter between the cashiering table and the deli display counter, Weiss pulling the short stout man into a hug before shouting into the back room with a thick northeastern accent. "HEY, ARIN! WAKE UP AND LOOK WHO CAME TO VISIT!"

Blake watched with slight amusement and confusion as a taller, more slim man with a mix of long brown and blonde hair, sluggishly stumbled out of the back of the store room, only to trip over a mop bucket and fall flat on his face. "OW FUCK!" he exclaimed as he got up, two streams of blood starting to flow from his nose before he forgot about the pain at the sight of one of his favorite customers. "Oh, Weiss came back to us!"

"At least clean yourself up before you come say hello." Weiss smiled as she gestured to his nose, which he seemed to only realize was bleeding as she pointed it out.

"Yeah, just shove some napkins up ya nostrils before you come over here." Jon suggested as Arin grabbed a couple napkins and did just that while the shorter of the two men turned to the other girl accompanying their old regular. "Oh, by the way, who's your friend here, Weiss? She's kinda just standing around here awkwardly."

Blake almost gasped as she realized she hadn't introduced herself yet as Weiss was caught up in the moment. "Oh, right! This is my teammate from Beacon Academy, Blake." the heiress motioned to the brunette, who gave a small wave hello to the two men. "Blake, this is Jon and Arin. They run this place."

"It's nice to meet you both." Blake said as she bowed hello to them.

"Hey, a friend of our little friend here's a friend of ours!" Jon said enthusiastically as he tugged her into a forced handshake with the grip of a Deathstalker's claw on her hand before letting go, leaving the stoic's hand slightly sore. He then turned back to his old customer. "So, what brings ya back up to Atlas? Mission or somethin'?"

"Yeah, and then my dad let us stay with him before the usual happened." Weiss said as her face fell. Jon and Arin's smiled faded a tad before the thinner of the two spoke up.

"Hey, you're outta there for the time being. How bout we make you the usual ta get your mind off it?" Arin asked as he started pulling on some latex gloves to start handling food.

"That'd be nice, thanks." Weiss nodded, her smile returning as she took a seat at one of the few tables set up between the counters and shelves of snacks and drinks from the convenience side of the store.

"And anything for you, Blake?" Arin asked as he started preparing a sandwich.

"I'll just grab some tea, thank you." Blake replied as she walked down one of the aisles to a cooler stocked with drinks, taking out a bottle of iced tea for herself before reaching into her pocket for the Lien it cost. A clearing of someone's throat caused her to pause from doing that though as she brought her attention to Jon.

"Hey, don't worry about that. Consider it on the house." he smiled softly, Blake giving a nod of thanks as she sat down with Weiss, who was giving her thanks to Arin as he walked out from behind the counter with a small sandwich consisting of simply ham and cheese on a miniature baguette.

"I have to ask, how did you even find this place, Weiss?" Blake asked as she popped the top off her iced tea.

"It's actually them who found me." Weiss explained. "The first time I ever tried running away from home, I got lost and ended up on this street, huddling under the stairway cold and afraid."

"Yeah, you could imagine our surprise when we found this little girl in nothin' but a nightgown and fur coat squatting in our entrance at eleven o'clock at night." Arin added.

"Or our surprise when she told us she was a Schnee. They usually don't go fer places like this." Jon nodded. " 'Specially since your old man's new store down the block's been taking all our business."

Weiss gulped down the bite of sandwich in her mouth as she was ready to reply. "New store?"

"Yeah, this new Schnee Mart opened a few weeks ago, our very few late night customers are our only business. The staff from there comes in sometimes, but that's only cuz we sell smokes and they don't." Jon explained. "At this rate, we'll be outta business pretty soon."

"That's terrible." Weiss gasped, shaking her head.

"Is their any place your dad's company hasn't run out of business yet?" Blake asked.

"Just the shops in Little Menagerie." Arin shrugged.

"Little Menagerie?" Blake asked, not enjoying the name of what she assumed was a district of the city.

"It got established a few decades ago as a Faunus cultural center after the war ended, but the kingdom decided to just turn it into an internment camp for the Faunus around these parts that they ain't deporting or jailing." Jon explained again, sounding disgusted. "You best keep those hidden, Blake."

Blake almost did a double-take as she looked at the shopowner. "How did you know?" she asked as she let her bow down for the first time since arriving in Atlas, letting her cat ears for everyone to see.

"I grew up around 'em. Nicer folks than all the propaganda against 'em makes 'em out to be. I know one when I see one, even if they hide it." Jon shrugged with a smile, Blake returning it with a genuine one of her own. This was the first person in Atlas she was comfortable being around. Even Weiss looked as though she were more at home here than in her mansion, and with how the brothers were treating them, it was little surprise why.

"But, hey enough about all that. How's life over in Vale been treatin' ya, Weiss?" Arin asked. The heiress was ready to start talking about her experience at Beacon so far before the chime on the door went off again. All eyes turned to see a behemoth of a man walk inside. Nobody could make out any facial features, as he kept his face hidden by a hood on his grey coat and a balacava to shield it from the cold night air.

Arin and Jon shared a quick glance before the slimmer one shrugged and went to assist him. "What can I do ya for, bud?" he asked the new arrival, unsure if he was a customer or about to rob him.

"Just need a pack of smokes." he said in a deep voice as he fished a thick callused hand into his pocket and produced a few lien to pay for the cigarettes.

The tone seemed to calm down between the brothers as he turned out to be only buying something. "Yeah, sure." Arin nodded as he picked a pack off the shelf behind him and traded them for the cash. "You have a good one now." he nodded as the man grunted a thank you before leaving. "Well, that guy was shady."

"He sounded awfully familiar though..." Blake thought aloud, trying to remember where she caught that scent before. It seemed familiar to her. "Didn't he...Weiss?"

The look of mortification on Weiss' face was nothing like the brunette had ever seen. She recognized the voice from the train during Roman's attempt to breach Vale, then again in the first chamber of the tomb of the Alpha Grimm under the city. "Blake...That was him." she spoke. "I;m sure of it."

"That guy was who?" Blake asked before it clicked a second later. "Wait, him? A-are you sure?"

"Positive. That was just Chad Aens who walked through the door." Weiss said as she shot up from her seat and made a bee-line out the door, Blake not far behind, leaving the two brothers somewhat confused as they stood in their mini-mart.

"So, uh, you think we should call the cops or somethin'?" Arin asked as the door slammed shut upon Blake's leaving.

* * *

"It's already been done." read the text as he sent it to his informant, before pocketing the mobile device as he looked over his shoulder. He had only left the market a few minutes ago, but couldn't help but feel like he was being watched. There was no mistaking it that those two recognized him. How could they not? He had tried to kill both of them. That Schnee bitch and her traitor of a friend could probably pick him out of a million doppelgangers of himself if they tried.

Getting back to Violet's compound was going to be difficult now. It was hard enough sneaking into the city; getting back out was going to be the issue. It was times like this he wished he was born a penguin Faunus. That way, he could just jump into the icy waters of the harbor and swim his way back without freezing to death before he was even a quarter mile away from the city. His method of getting inside was a one-way trip thanks to the one on the inside, but other than that, he would have a much harder time trying to get out without help. Quickly, he reached back into his coat pocket, sending another message for an emergency extraction. Violet responded not even moments later with a confirmation that a Bullhead was on its way to pick him up at a certain location.

Before he could even replace the phone into his pocket, a shot blasted it to bits of plastic and microchip shards right out of his hand. He turned to see the smoking barrel of Gambol Shroud aimed for a killshot at him, with a familiar gleaming rapier pointed menacingly at him by the white-haired heiress.

"Hmph, so you did recognize me after all..." Chains grumbled as he turned to face them.

"Whatever you came here to do, you're not getting away with it." Weiss threatened as she revolved the barrel of her weapon to ice Dust.

"You're a bit late on the draw there, Schnee." he sneered. "I already have." he grinned as he lowered his balacava, revealing a sharp pair of fangs that matched that of a panther's, that chomped straight down on the end of a cigarette he stuck into his mouth before lighting. As he did this, the two girls suddenly heard the sound of alarms going off somewhere around the corner as two firetrucks sped past them to a slowly rising billow of smoke a few blocks away from them. As the two watched the first responders fly by them, they were caught off guard by the sound of multiple chainsaws revving up. The two Huntresses turned back to the White Fang operative, who now held in his hand a weapon that dwarfed Crescent Rose's length by a longshot. It was two chainsaws of the same build as his old weapon, now joined together by a heavy duty handle connecting them both together. "Now, they say three's a charm. Let's see if I can kill you on the third try, Weiss." he grinned wickedly as he lunged forward.

* * *

"Hey, Yang... Yang...YANG!" Ruby yelped as she tried her hardest to wake her heavily snoring sister up, finally succeeding as the blonde awoke with a startle.

"Huuh? What the...Ruby, do you know what time it is?" Yang groaned as she looked over to the nightstand of her side of the king-sized bed the two sisters shared in their guest room. It wasn't even close to the time for the sunrise.

"Yeah, but I couldn't sleep so I started playing on my Scroll when a notification came up that had Weiss and Blake's aura readings, and it pointed to the fact they're getting lower!" Ruby said as she shoved her phone into her sister's face. Sure enough, on the page of the app Ruby had installed to monitor her team's aura levels were two images of Weiss and Blake's heads with a slowly decreasing aura level on each of their details.

"They might just be doing some late night sparring or something, Rubes." Yang hypothesized. "What's so weird about that?"

"The fact that they're sparring in the middle of the commercial district?" Ruby added as she tapped both their faces on her Scroll. Immediately, it became a map of the city with the sister's icons and Marron's at the Schnee Estate in the northeast, and the other two smack dab in the center of the metropolis.


	6. Welcome to the SDC

Weiss retreated backwards as Chains swung his chainstaff in an arc that would've connected with her neck if it weren't for Blake's intervention by blocking the strike with her cleaver, the teeth skittering along its edge and sending sparks flying before the two broke off. "Weiss! Ammo clip!" she called back to the heiress, who quickly dug into her pouch and tossed a cartridge of Dust infused rounds towards her teammate. The split second Blake turned to catch it, she felt a blow to the back of her head as Chains surged his fist forward, knocking the Faunus girl onto her stomach as he caught the magazine instead.

"I know what you can do with these. Don't expect to be using them anytime soon." he sneered as he threw them across the street and into a drain grate, unable to be retrieved by anybody anymore. "Now stay down there as I kill you." he chuckled before he raised his staff to plow his weapon straight into Blake's back. The strike never made contact, as a sharp forward strike from Weiss as she entered the fray knocked his stab off target, instead biting into the concrete next to Blake.

"Get up, you dolt!" Weiss ordered as Blake still sat on the sidewalk, fazed by the close shave she just experienced as Weiss parried again to get the lumbering chainsaw specialist off her friend.

"R-right..." Blake nodded as she rolled to her feet, retrieving Gambol Shroud and turning to assist Weiss as both Huntresses took the offensive. With each stab, slash, and parry, they ebbed away at Chains' defenses, however suffering a few of his blows of his own. Weiss was now seeing how he gave both JNPR and Cardin and Dove a run for their money with how skilled he had gotten since her team first encountered him on the train almost a year ago. Despite his stature and lower speed in his attacks than theirs, the White Fang commander had made up for it with his brute strength and apparently high Aura pool. She could feel his hatred radiating off of him in an intensity that almost made her gag. She kept her composure as she took the lead again, using a set of glyphs to try and strike him from all angles once she left her haste glyph. Unfortunately, he remembered that strike well. She did use it on him during her first encounter with him on the train. Reaching up before she could even hit her first glyph, the gargantuan Faunus struck the heiress straight in the chest with a powerful punch that knocked the air out of her lungs in an instant. Blake jumped in as Weiss flopped onto the ground gasping for air, her strikes with both blades of her weapon giving Weiss all the time she needed to recover as she gingerly rose to her feet.

Once she was up, she pulled Myrtenaster's trigger to spin the chamber to activate its fire Dust feature. Pointing the rapier at the behemoth, she let her blade glow brightly with a neon red hue as she surged forward to run him through as Blake kept him in a deadlock with her cleaver and katana. Chains may not have been able to break off from having his weapon locked against Blake's, but he could still turn in a way to redirect Weiss' attack intended for him to her comrade. Weiss gasped as she reeled her arm back just in time to prevent impaling Blake, however the two Huntresses crashed into each other, knocking both of them to the ground and allowing the White Fang commander to disarm Blake as she fell.

"This is almost too easy." he grinned from beneath his mask as he raised his chainstaff and it roared menacingly over the two girls.

"FREEZE!"

His deathblow was interrupted as a blinding spotlight was shone on him from behind Blake and Weiss. Both looked back to see what had incapacitated him, both shielding their eyes with their hands from the light. They could see two armored cars adorned with the Atlesian military's insignia, one of which with an industrial-strength spotlight shone directly onto them, with at least six soldiers training high-powered rifles on the attacker. Once Chains realized who had arrived on the sight to help his attempted victims, he began to back off. The moment one soldier saw him backing off, the firing line opened up, pelting the criminal with powerful shots, the chainstaff spinning rapidly in a circle to shield its wielder from the gunfire as he began to retreat towards a nearby alley.

Weiss and Blake could only look on bewildered at the sudden arrival of the military before somebody running past them and after Chains that very noticeably wasn't a soldier. "Don't let him get away!" she ordered as the soldiers followed her after her.

"Was that Marron?" Blake asked before a blur of red and black tackled her to the ground and a strong grip dragged Weiss to her feet and into a one-armed hug with the strength of an Ursa.

"Wha-Yang? Ruby?" Weiss asked aloud as she looked around, shocked at the sudden arrival of their teammates and chaperoning Huntsman.

"We're so glad you two are alright!" Ruby cried out as Blake pried herself out of her tiny leader's embrace.

"How did you guys find us?" Blake asked.

"We'll explain later. We need to go after him!" Yang answered as she cocked her gauntlets and primed them for combat, Ruby handing the other two their weapons as they all ran off to follow Marron and the soldiers. The sound of gunshots down an alley led them down a winding maze between buildings and littered with garbage cans and discarded boxes before finally coming across the group, where they had the terrorist cornered under a fire escape, Marron on point with Aurum Wing's cannon trained on him.

"Nowhere to run now. Give it up, Chad." she threatened, complete disdain in her voice for the individual in front of her.

"I didn't think it'd be you to bring me in, Marron..." he admitted, sounding sincere before a nearly-inaudible 'heh' from the chainstaff wielder. "And I was right." he finished as he produced a small metal cylinder with a pin on the top.

"GRENADE!" one of the soldiers screamed as Chains tossed it at the group of lawmen and started to climb the fire escape, only instead of a deadly explosion, a blinding flash and deafening bang ringing through the alley. Marron could only stand and suffer as all she could see was white and all she could hear was a high-pitched ringing, just as everyone else could. As it slowly returned, she noticed Chains was no longer in front of her, and suddenly heard the loud whine of a turbine directly overhead. Looking up, she saw Chains getting inside a dropship adorned with the White Fang insignia on its underbelly before it rocketed off from its perch at the roof of the building in front of them.

"NO!" Marron snarled as she pointed Aurum Wing to the sky, firing off an explosive round from its mortar launcher with a loud crack. The shot just barely missed the ship as it safely rocketed away and out of the city. "Dammit!" she cursed as she dropped her weapon and punched the brick wall Chains was once standing in front of, her semblance kicking in reflexively to protect herself from hurting her hand, but still leaving a crater in the wall. Team RWBY were still keeping their eyes trained on the dropship as it faded from their sight from over another building.

"What do you suppose brought him here?" Yang asked aloud, wondering the same thing that was on everybody's minds.

"Weiss... He said it was already done." Blake remembered as another convoy of emergency vehicles sped past their alley. The heiress could only imagine one target he could be after in this area. It was already too late to stop it.

* * *

The sun was already rising as the team of Huntresses arrived at the scene of the crime caused by Chains, who had left quite the mess for the first responders to clean up. The front of the building looked as if it was recently engulfed in flames, with broken glass littering the sidewalk in front of it and scorch marks across the facade as well as a completely blackened interior. The once proud sign that read the mega-mart's name was twisted and melted from the heat of the blaze, the recognizable Schnee Dust Company logo now nothing but a burnt carcass of metal and frayed wiring. What horrified them the most was the lining of three body bags sat in front of the entrance and in between it and an ambulance backing up to load them for shipment to the morgue.

"Dear Monty in heaven..." Yang mouthed as she looked upon the horrific sight as the commuters outside the police barriers did as they took in the scene on their morning walks to work.

"He did all of this?" Ruby asked, mortified by the damage only one White Fang member could do. She had seen what an army of them did to Vale firsthand; everyone did. This was much different though, and it scared every one of them. Weiss however had the greatest feeling of fear from this sight. She had only heard from Winter or overheard her father's rants over how they would suicide bomb his facilities or execute board members. Seeing it for herself for the first time was a whole new frightful experience to the heiress.

"From what we can gather, yes." an older man's gruff voice answered as the group turned to face an older man with a greying buzzcut and a demeanor similar to General Ironwood's.

"Commissioner Slate." Weiss nodded, her voice shakey from the shock and awe Chains left in his wake.

"Miss Schnee..." Slate hesitantly nodded back. "I was expecting your father to arrive, not you."

"We encountered Chains a few blocks back and tried to bring him down." Blake explained. "He almost killed us if Marron and the rest of our team didn't show up with those soldiers."

Intrigued, Slate glanced over to their supervising Huntress. "Marron? Is that true?" he asked.

"We had him, Slate. He was cornered! We could've stopped it there!" she fumed, still seeming very upset over the fact he got away.

"I know, my dear." he assured her with a hand on her shoulder. "I know how difficult it is to bring an old friend in to face justice all too well." He then turned to face the younger huntresses with a more stern and focused expression. "Miss Schnee, you and your group encountered Chad Aens before, correct?"

"Yes?" Weiss answered, not sure where the commissioner was going with that question as he lead their team to an RV converted into a mobile police command unit for the Atlas City police force. Inside, on one of the counters, investigators were beginning to gather evidence from the scene that they had been gathering, laying out a set of photographs to go over. All of them showed the aftermath of what Chains was capable of. Scorch marks covered the shelves and floors from the firebombs he set off there, as well as the Dust inside that exploded from its exposure to heat. All of them grimaced at the detailed images further at the end of the table of the dead security guards covered in gashes and burns.

"Is there a reason you're scaring a few teenage girls for life with these photos?" Yang asked.

"Because there's one my detectives took one that concerns us, especially since it may or may not involve your team, Miss Schnee." Slate answered as he gestured to one in the center that Ruby picked from the collection for a better look. It showed a single section of the wall inside, one of the corpses still lying against it, with a warning carved into it.

"GIVE US THE LITTLEST SCHNEE

OR MORE WILL DE THAN JUST THESE THREE"

Weiss was already tense from her ordeal throughout the night, as well as the fact she had finally seen the attacks on her family's company firsthand. Now knowing she was the target of this attack for whatever reason was sending her into a state just short of the usually-composed heiress having a panic attack. "They want me?"

"It would make sense." Marron noted. "The White Fang have attacked the SDC before. Capturing or killing an actual Schnee would deal a huge blow to the company and grant a huge victory to them."

"They've actually came close." Slate remembered. "At least a decade back when I was still doing patrols, I responded to a call where a Faunus unaffiliated with the Fang broke in and nearly took Winter hostage. When we interrogated him, he admitted he planned to turn her over to them for a bounty."

"Wow, she never told me about that." Marron gasped.

"Can we focus on the fact that they now have one out for our Schnee?" Yang spoke up. "They just killed three people to send us a message."

"And one that knows who we are too." Ruby added, before turning to Weiss, who had a mortified look on her face, her gaze not even leaving the photograph. "Weiss? Are you okay?"

The heiress looked up at her leader. "I...don't even know where to begin why I'm not okay." Weiss spoke up.

"This isn't even part of our mission anyway." Blake spoke up. "We need to get to the testing facility anyway."

"B-Blake's right." Weiss nodded quickly, liking the change of pace. "We're already late."

"I'll get some of my men to give you an escort over." Slate nodded, reaching for his radio microphone as he lead them out of the mobile command unit. Already waiting for them was a polished to a shine limousine with two armed security guards parked at the edge of the police blockade. Winter, and a man in a silver colored suit were already marching towards them.

"That won't be necessary, Commissioner. I was headed back there myself." Winter announced as she looked at the damage, wrinkling her nose at the smell of lingering smoke from the minor smolders left inside the burnt building. "What a barbaric attack..."

"How'd you know we were here, Winter?" Ruby asked.

"I didn't, Miss Rose." Winter said in all honesty. "I'm here with our insurance representative to survey the damage. You can direct all information about the attack to him, sir." the elder of the two Schnee sisters gestured as the businessman accompanying her stepped into the vehicle.

"Winter, three people were killed in this..." Weiss started. "How can you just brush it off like this was just a normal loss for the company."

"Weiss, we've had to deal with this before. We've had entire train shipments get stolen from us." Winter countered, taking notice Blake took on a glimpse of a guilty expression at that example. "Trust me when I say it doesn't get easier, no matter what the loss..." she trailed off as she watched the ambulance transporting the bodies drive past them, the limo pulling out slightly to allow it to leave the perimeter. "...but alas, the number one source of Dust can't stop for something like this. Now, come along; Father's getting impatient."

"Actually, Winter, I should stay behind. Ozpin instructed me to contact him if we end up in this mess somehow." Marron explained, taking out her Scroll. With a nod, Winter turned as the rest of RWBY followed Weiss' older sister to the company's car, Ruby taking a look back to confirm this was a smart decision their chaperon was making. "It's fine, Rubes. I'll catch up." With that, the young brunette entered the extended car and the group departed shortly after Winter's guards re-entered the front of the vehicle. Once they were gone, Marron turned back to the Commissioner. "Slate, I'm calling in that favor from the Goliath Stampede." she said, her tone taking on a serious cadence.

"That depends what it is." he replied, folding his arms over his chest.

"I need to speak with somebody at the courthouse today." Marron demanded.

Slate shook his head. "Not possible." he answered quickly, catching Marron's implication. "It's already enough of a zoo down there. The schedule is to bring him there, get through opening statements, then back to solitary with him."

"Then I'll wait at the prison then." the halberdier said coldly as she began to walk away.

"What are you even trying to get through this?" Slate asked.

"You may have jurisdiction here, but this is a Huntsman matter now." Marron continued. "An ex-Huntsman did this as well as numerous other crimes. I need to talk with someone he worked with to get some more intel, and Adam Taurus already gave everything when he defected. Maybe Mercury Black has some answers to what they want here."

The limo ride to the massive complex that housed the Schnee Dust Company world headquarters was met with a deafening silence. Nobody spoke as they drove up to the security gate out front, the only entrance to the gargantuan facility, even for VIP's. There were plenty of exits from employee and visitor parking or for shipping trucks, but the two-lane checkpoint surrounded by a thick metal wall lined with barbed wire atop it encircling the headquarters was the only way inside minus a smaller set of doors on either side for pedestrians to check in. As the limo was allowed to pass, Team RWBY crowded against the window to take in the sight of the towering structure ahead of them. The giant building, covered in reflective glass save for a section on the last ten stories that the company logo was embedded into with chrome, stood tall in the center of many equally-sized, smaller buildings that housed the other parts of its operation from production to research and development. They could see dozens upon dozens of workers and businessmen hustling down the sidewalks on either side of their car on their way to the buildings that housed their work stations and offices for the coming workday.

"Oh, before I forget..." Winter spoke up as she reached into a briefcase next to her, producing three laminated cards attatched to vinyl straps long enough to be worn around one's neck. "I took the liberty of getting you all visitor's passes for your 'mission'. You'll need to be wearing these at all times while inside the headquarters."

Each of RWBY took one and placed them on, Ruby taking a moment to check her reflection in the lamination. "Hey, doesn't Weiss get one?" Yang asked.

"Why would she? She's a Schnee. Everyone in our family has an all access pass." Winter explained as Weiss dug into her own pocket to fish her's out to show her team: a completely white card with the company logo, her name and picture on it. What the rest were the most surprised in was that the picture for this card was taken before Weiss earned her scar. As she replaced it into her pocket, the limo came to a quick halt, the drivers leaving the car first to open their passengers' door and escort them through the crowd of employees and corporate suck-ups wishing both Miss Schnee's a good morning on their way down the footpath and around the heated fountain crafted, once again in the shape of the Schnee family crest, in front of the main building's entrance. Once entering, they came into view of a large set of lines of people gathering behind the circular information desk. In each line that stood in front of a set of x-ray scanners flanked by sharp-dressed security guards stood waiting workers, businessmen and women, and prospective employees readying their resumes or proposals for their meetings and interviews coming up. Only one scanner seemed to be vacant of waiting employees and visitors. The reason why was from a single sign standing in front of the scanner along with its guards that read "VIP Executives Only" in cursive lettering. Being part of her morning routine, Winter strolled up to it, one of the guards giving her a nod and a smile as she passed.

"Morning, Miss Schnee." he greeted as his superior started through the scanner.

"And a good one to you as well, Morrison. Anything to report?" Winter smiled.

"Just a false alarm so far. One of the new guys remembered his weapon, but forgot his pass at home." the head of security noted. "It won't happen again; I fired him on the spot for it."

"Kinda rough for a new guy though, isn't it?" Yang murmured loud enough for Morrison to look over Team RWBY.

"And Little Miss Schnee's here too? Why didn't I hear about this?" the burly guard boomed. "How've you been, Miss?"

"I've been well, Mister Morrison." Weiss said with a forced smile. "It's nice to be back here."

"It's good to see you again too. I heard the monthly Huntsman testing team was arriving today, but I didn't expect you to be part of it." he smiled. "You remember the drill, right?"

With a nod, Weiss stepped past him into the scanner. Morrison's assistant checked the scanner, seeing that the only metal the heiress had on her was nothing that could be considered a weapon, save her actual weapon of course. It sounded off with an electronic chime that meant the individual inside the machine was deemed safe and allowed to pass. Once it rang, Weiss stepped through, Ruby taking her place as the process started again.

"These things are pretty cool." the team leader absentmindedly thought out loud.

"Yep, these are top of the line body scanners, Little Lady." Morrison said, patting the side of the inner wall of the machine. "They can pick up anything from internal things we'd miss like pacemakers or things people may be trying to sneak out at the end of the day. Hell, this thing can even tell is there's a loose animal trying to sneak in."

Blake and Weiss collectively gulped at that statement as Yang went through next. The jig was definitely up at this point. Blake had nowhere to go but forward, and she'd be singled out as a Faunus in one of the least racially sensitive places in history. Keeping her made-up composure as she walked into the scanner to seal her fate, she winced as an alarm sounded.

"Looks like we got some vermin, boys!" Morrison shouted, alerting his guards.

"No, wait! Please!"

Blake quickly darted her eyes to the scanner next to her as another woman with a beret on was pulled out of line. As she was jerked awkwardly by another one as she was pulled in front of Morrison, her hat fell to the linoleum floor, revealing a pair of extra ears sprouting from her head that resembled that of a mouse's. "You don't understand! This is my last option; I have a family and kids to feed!" she begged as two guards pulled her towards a set of doors off to the side labeled 'Security Only'.

"Then try applying some place in Little Menagerie where you cretins belong!" the guard escorting her snapped as he lead her inside, Blake quickly leaving the scanner before the other security crew team members flagged her as well. She was lucky it still had its window that confirmed Yang's passage, the other guard not noticing she hadn't been scanned yet and thinking it automatically went off and confirmed her for him. Weiss gave her a nod while everyone kept their eyes on the Faunus being dragged away until the doors she was pulled into closed behind her.

"Where are they taking her?" Yang asked, slightly concerned.

"Any Faunus trying to sneak in gets held in our office 'til the police pick them up and drop them back off into Little Menagerie." Morrison boasted as he turned back to the other stations. "Okay, people. Sorry about the scene there! Let's get back to it." he apologized to the crowd as business went back to usual for the security checkpoint teams and the people looking to enter. "Sorry about the excitement, ladies."

"Your men handled that well, Morrison. No need for an apology when you have something you can't control from happening." Winter reasoned. "You keep up the good work, now." she finished as she turned away, the head of security nodding as he turned back to watch his employees continue their work to keep the company safe from intruders and the 'unwanted'. Blake took one long look back at them in disgust before continuing onward with her group towards the end of the hallway. On either side of them were sets of ground level offices and the company cafeteria, but at the end were three tall glass pillars that housed the elevators. Out of the center one stepped Silbern Schnee himself as he walked up to them with a man his age with neck-length red hair and a lab jacket.

"Ladies, I heard about the incident at our new store downtown. Is everyone alright?" he asked, some frustration in his voice.

"We're all okay, Mister Schnee." Ruby nodded. "Marron's staying behind to speak with the police about Chad Aens involvement in the crime."

Silbern turned to his eldest daughter, foregoing his anger that his new store was ruined by terrorists to the fact his daughter's former comrade was behind it. "Winter, if I had known..." he said in genuine sincerity before she cut him off.

"Father, I burned the bridge with him a long time ago when he left being a Huntsman behind." Winter snapped. "I don't care who it is. He's just another criminal now who attacked our company."

"If you say so." Silbern hesitated as he turned to Team RWBY. "Weiss, you remember Doctor Rojas, right?"

"Why wouldn't I?" she asked before turning to her team. "Everyone, this is Doctor Sangre Rojas, my dad's top scientist for our Research and Development department. "

"It's a privilege to meet you, Team RWBY." he said with a bit of excitement in his voice. "We've got quite alot to go through today, so shall we begin?"

"I dunno. That show in the lobby kinda ruined the mood." Yang shrugged, her level of eagerness much lower than the scientist before her.

"I can understand your thought on the matter of Faunus, Mister Schnee, but I have to admit, it seems a bit extreme." Blake added.

"Vale has its standards between races and Atlas has its own, Miss Belladonna." the company head reasoned. "I would control it if I could, but at the time, nothing can be done."

"It's not too late to try." Blake argued.

"Miss Belladonna, we can argue this once again, or we can continue to our R and D's testing station for the assignment you were hired for." Silbern ordered, starting to get annoyed.

Blake was still fuming, but complied as Ruby and Weiss gave her a knowing glance. "Blake, we'll talk about it later, please." Ruby nodded.

"Yeah, we got some training dummies to take our anger out on!" Yang smirked, cracking her knuckles as the group gathered into the elevator and began to ascend into the company headquarters.

* * *

 **And it's finally done!  
**

 **I'm sorry for the huge delay everybody. Real life and college have been getting in the way of my work, as well as a few glitches to my work that wouldn't save the last few parts of the chapter...twice. Seriously, Fanfiction, what the hell?**

 **Anyway, I really wanted to get this out before Volume 3 started, but like I said, things happened. It's been great so far; Teams BRNZ and NDGO are awesome! I can't wait to see what the others can do like Qrow, Winter, and this Team FNKI they teased back at RTX that we haven't seen or heard from yet! As an apology for the long wait, I'll be getting to work on a one-shot that I want out before episode 3 premiers this coming Saturday. Until then, I'll see you lads and lasses next time!**


	7. Project: Vanguard

The elevator came to a soft halt three levels above the ground floor, the group stepping out as Mister Schnee and the researcher lead the others through a corridor to a footbridge leading to a separate building. On the other end was a security checkpoint flanked by two armed security guards. The men allowed their boss to pass with his company as they passed through bulletproof-glass doors marked with "Authorized Personnel Only" stickers. "What you are all about to see is highly classified among the Schnee Dust Company." Doctor Rojas announced. "I'm certain Mister Schnee has informed you about the confidentiality agreement."

"Confa-what now?" Yang asked.

"It was in those documents you all signed last night." Weiss whispered.

"I thought that was so we couldn't sue if we got hurt during this." Ruby said loud enough for everyone to hear.

"It was in the finer print of that document, Miss Rose." Winter explained. "I assumed you all looked it over before signing."

"Okay, look." Doctor Rojas spoke up. "You all swear you won't talk about anything you see inside, right?" he asked the Huntresses in front of him, all of which nodded as he clapped his hands together. "Perfect! Let's get to it!"

The room he lead them through after passing through the foyer behind the glass doors was a large laboratory bustling with activity. Technicians were busy working on computers, projects being prepared on workstation tables, and many more sharing notes on findings and test results in front of machines some of the group thought they only had seen in science-fiction movies. On the other end of the room, which rivaled RWBY's school dining hall back at Beacon, was a set of doors marked with yellow and black-lined tape with warning signs plastered below the windows near the tops of them. Through that, they were led into a huge sort of indoor testing range, which made the indoor arena Professor Goodwitch used in her combat classes look tiny. The testing area was protected by forcefield barriers, with a single set of armor-plated doors being the only way inside from where the group was now. Through the barriers, the girls could get a good look at the first experimental prototype they were slated to be put up against. It seemed to be a newer version of the Paladin mech suits, but with longer legs and a large set of autocannons and rocket launchers attached to where the hands of its predecessor should be. It was squatted into its standby position, a hatch open on the back for the technician, decked out in safety gear ranging from a full-head helmet and padded armor.

"Soooo...what's that?" Ruby asked, trying to make conversation.

"I'm glad you asked, Miss Rose!" Doctor Rojas said enthusiastically. "That there is a prototypical new variant of the Paladin-class battlesuit we've been testing as of late. Designated the Vanguard-310 class."

"We've looked over a file of your field experience provided by Beacon. You've all come across and fought our model-290's before from the suits gathered by the White Fang. This variant has similar weapon systems as its predecessor, although the hands have been replaced for heavy weaponry for maximum firepower." Winter explained, bringing the group over to a table that showed a holographic display of the bot RWBY would be going up against in their first test. "Two-inch thick armor plating, twenty millimeter autocannon, and five anti-armor rocket pods are only a fraction of the abilities you'll be going up against, ladies."

"Piece of cake." Yang grinned, cracking her knuckles ad a volume that made the test pilot audibly gulp.

"I admire your confidence, Miss Xiao Long." Silbern commented. "You girls may begin when ready."

With a nod, Team RWBY marched over to the door to the inside of the testing arena, the door being held open by Doctor Rojas as he ushered them inside. As they entered, Blake and Weiss checking their weapons to make sure they were primed and fully loaded. Just before Weiss entered, the heiress brought a hand across her left eye, a phantom pain vaguely stinging her face. It suddenly faded as a hand was placed on her shoulder. Next to her stood her team leader, weapon folded in her other hand as she looked on with a hint of worry at the heiress.

"Weiss? Is everything okay?" Ruby asked as they walked in and took positions next to Blake and Yang.

"Well, Ruby, if you must know, we're in for more than you might think." Weiss answered.

"Oh c'mon, Weiss. How tough can one robot be? We took on dozens before." Yang shrugged as the test pilot climbed into the mech.

"I've been in a test before, Yang." Weiss deadpanned as the robot rose to its feet, standing a good twenty-feet tall as its cannons immediately took perfect aim at the girls. "The last one is the reason one of my eyes is scarred."

The girls didn't even have time to exchange a look before the autocannon began to spit a hailstorm of lead in their direction, sending all four girls scattering to try and dodge the shots. As its targets scattered, the armored battle suit turned to keep its gun trained on Ruby, who was using her semblance to the best of her ability to make sure the bullets only bit through the petals she left behind. While it was distracted, the target's older sister and a raven-haired ninja tried taking popshots with their weapons from behind, the shotgun blasts and pistol rounds harmlessly rebounding off what appeared to be an invisible shield of some sort.

"What the-" Yang gasped when she realized their shots were doing no damage.

"It's got some sort of shielding mechanism!" Blake called before realizing the mech pilot became bored trying to hit the reaper of the team he was up against, and turned his sights on Yang and Blake. Noticing the rocket pods were beginning to glow red and hum menacingly, Blake preemptively dashed forward under its line of fire as three rockets blasted out towards her and the brawler. Two missed as Blake used her afterimages to avoid the blasts, Yang catching the third and tossing it aside, where it exploded against the wall barriers and startled the observing engineers on the other side. Just as she got up close, ready to jump and try to cut down the launchers before they could fire again, the mech lifted a leg and brought it down with enough force to kick Blake back a few feet. While she was sprawled on the ground, the wind knocked out of her, another rocket fired off, aimed directly at the swordswoman, only for it to explode on a glyph that appeared in front of her at the last possible second.

As Blake rose back to one knee, Weiss took her place as she set four more glyphs parallel to the floor, giving Ruby, who was now in position behind the mech, and Yang, standing next to the other two, stepping stones as they both dashed forward, stepping off each one and landing two strong hits from both sisters that brought the mechanical monstrosity to one knee of its own. While it was down, a revitalized Blake and Weiss dashed forward, slashing at the forward canopy before it rose back to its feet. Just before they could back away, the arm holding the autocannon suddenly surged outward, trying to swat the two girls away. Before it could, Yang was suddenly there to catch it.

"Yang?" Weiss asked over the sudden gunfire as the autocannon started spinning up again, throwing a torrent of hot lead Yang was barely protecting herself from as her Aura continued to be shredded.

"Just get back!" Yang growled, her eyes starting to glow orange. As the other two girls backed off to join their leader on the outskirts of its range. Just before her defense broke, the blonde brought a fist back, delivering a haymaker that shattered the cannon into smithereens. As the now one-armed robot suit staggered back, an idea formed in Weiss' head. The force of the strikes from Ruby and Yang's double team attack a minute ago had weakened one of the hydraulic struts on the legs, leaving it exposed just enough for a certain crimson scythe to cut the rest of the way through.

"Ruby!" Weiss pointed out as she set up another line of glyphs appeared in front of the robot, each of them of the propulsion glyph.

"I see it! Thanks!" Ruby smiled as she cocked Crescent Rose, rocketing off as she fired off a shot behind her and rocketed down the line of glyphs, picking up speed just in time as the blade met the niche on the metal legs, cutting through the damage one and propelling straight through the second. Ruby skidded to a stop a few feet behind it, just as the behemoth fell apart from its legs. As it fell, a klaxon sounded, the pilot staggering out of the now broken piece of machinery through the hatch on the back as Silbern and Doctor Rojas entered through the same door the girls did, followed with some technicians to inspect the damage and a medic to tend to Yang, who had fallen from exhaustion after breaking the cannon arm off.

"I must say, that was quite the display of teamwork you girls used." Silbern nodded, looking over the damage done to the prototype.

"This should definitely give us the data we need for improving the final product." Rojas agreed, looking over the CEO's shoulder.

"Glad we were able to help, but is my sister going to be okay?" Ruby asked, looking over to Yang, who had just been helped into a upright sitting position by the medic.

"I think she just overexerted herself. Standing in front of a gatling gun isn't exactly the smartest thing to do." Blake spoke up.

"Ah, c'mon! You all know I've done worse and lived through it!" Yang called over from her spot.

"I'm inclined to believe that, Miss Xiao Long." Silbern chuckled. "Even so, we should take a recess from the floor to set up for the next test. You may relax in one of the ready rooms outside. It shouldn't take longer than thirty minutes."

"We'll find a way to kill some time then, I guess." Ruby shrugged as the group of technicians got to work removing the debris, bullet casings, and cleaning the arena to prepare for the next prototype test. As they were set with their tasks, the girls followed Silbern and Doctor Rojas out to the foyer past the authorized personnel checkpoint, where Winter was in the middle of a phone call on her Scroll before turning to notice the group returning.

"I have to go. I'll keep you updated." Weiss overheard before her elder sister quickly hung up and turned to greet the new arrivals. "I apologize for missing the remainder of the test. An urgent phone call came up."

"Understandable, Winter. Besides, you didn't miss much." Silbern spoke with a lack of enthusiasm in his voice before turning to the hired Huntresses. "Miss Rose, you and your team can retire to the cafeteria for the time being. I need some time to discuss something with my daughter."

"Of course, sir." Ruby nodded as her team began to walk back to the elevators, only for an arm in front of Weiss stopping her from following the other three.

"You'll need to be here for this, Weiss." Silbern said, his voice with a hint of sternness in it.

Looking for confirmation to her leader to see what her reactions were, Weiss found Ruby giving her a soft smile to reassure her it was alright. "It's fine, Weiss. We'll meet you at the cafeteria once you're done." the brunette nodded. "See ya later!"

With that, the majority of Team RWBY left the Schnee family to their own devices, the youngest turning to face her sister and father with a slightly unnerved feeling coming over her. "So, Father-" she began.

"You will speak only when needed to from here on out, Weiss." Silbern interrupted coldly, catching his younger daughter off guard, but she did not respond. "While your team did well facing Project: Vanguard, you seemed to give the weakest performance."

"But...we defeated it!" Weiss tried to reason.

"You had, however, you lacked to use any style of your semblance except the basics." the older man explained. "If I knew you weren't going to improve past the basics of your semblance practice, I would've kept you here for your training at Mantle Academy. At least your Uncle Niklaus knows what he's teaching in Aura Manipulation classes." That shook Weiss to the core. How dare he refer to Professor Goodwitch's teachings as such a travesty. With a sigh, the criticism continued. "Have you even made any progress with your training?" Silbern asked.

"I've nearly perfected time dialation-" Weiss started, before a snort from her father cut her off again.

"Time Dialation? Even more basic than creating platforms!" Silbern criticized more. "Winter here perfected it long before she started attending Siren Academy! At least tell me you've started summoning. Then, you'd be on par with her at the very least." His brow furrowed more at the sight of her turning away from his gaze, indicating the answer he would be given was a no. "Not even summoning, hmm?" he asked rhetorically.

"You know I've tried!" Weiss fought back. "Everytime I've tried to summon even a dwarf Nevermore, the sequence fails!"

"Trying instead of doing doesn't seem to produce the results I expect from my own daughter." Silbern glared. "Your grades and ranking at Beacon may show you've done well in your first year there, but to me, you're still failing to live up to your potential. Now, return to your teammates. I need to discuss matters with your sister." he ordered.

Bowing her head in disgrace, Weiss left, wiping the tears off her sleeve once she was out of sight of her father and sister. What she wasn't expecting was to find her team looking worriedly at her as they waited for a vacant elevator to stop at their floor.

"Weiss? Are you...crying?" Blake asked, she and the rest of the second-year group completely shocked at this occurrence that nobody had ever expected from the Ice Queen of Beacon.

"Everything's fine, Blake." Weiss obviously lied as the elevator doors slid open, allowing the four teenage girls to enter the lift.

"The smeared mascara says otherwise." Yang pointed out, noting a smear of makeup on the heiress' face she herself discovered in the polished reflection of the closing elevator doors.

"I SAID I'M-" she snapped before catching the taken aback look by the brawler, also feeling the same empathetic palm on her shoulder from Ruby, who looked over to her friend with concerned silver orbs. "I-I'm sorry...Look, I'll explain what happened later. Can we just focus on the rest of the day? Please?"

With a nod and an understanding smirk, Ruby complied. "Sure, Weiss, but I'm holding you to that promise when we're done here today." the reaper nodded.

"Speaking of the mission, where the hell's Marron?" Yang asked.

"She still hasn't returned the message I sent her before we went into the testing labs." Ruby answered, checking her Scroll as the elevator came to a rest at the ground floor of the headquarters, leaving the group to wonder where their chaperoning Huntress had gone off to.

* * *

The clicking of the clock on the wall of the courtroom office where they held those preparing to go to trial between the prison van ride there and their time in the courtroom was starting to interest Mercury. With the near deafening silence in his new solitary confinement cell back at the prison, even the tick-tock of the wall clock above the door was music to the silver-haired kickboxer's ears. That's when a new sound came: the opening of the locked door in front of the table he sat at. Instead of the bailiff or his guards entering, somebody he'd never seen before walked in almost like the interrogators from when he was first taken into custody. She looked him down with a glare of disgust, like she was annoyed she had to come to him for whatever it was she was here for. "You look nothing like a reporter here to interview me." Mercury dryly joked.

"Shut it." Marron growled, intriguing the convicted killer.

"You're not a cop or my dad, so telling me what to do isn't a strong first impression, Blondie." Mercury sneered. "What are you even here for anyway?

"I'm here because of the other man who should be on trial with you today." Marron answered.

Now gaining his attention, Mercury sat up and leaned forward. "Who, Chains?" he asked. "So you're after him or something?"

"Along with the whole of Atlas' military." Marron nodded. "What I want to know is why him? Why did your boss free him and not you?"

"Cinder did that?" Mercury asked, furrowing his brow.

Marron mirrored his reaction. From the look on his face, it was clear he wasn't playing dumb. "So you weren't part of whatever this plan is?" the Arc sister asked.

"If I knew the plan for Vale was a bust and that we'd all be captured, I'd give you an answer." Mercury shrugged. "But guess what? That wasn't the case."

"Then give me your best guess why"d they want Chad Aens, a rogue Huntsman and White Fang lieutenant, over Cinder's right hand hitman." Marron ordered.

Mercury smirked at the end of the Huntress' statement "So that's it, huh?" he asked. "You're an old friend of his?"

"Answer the question." Marron growled.

"Not until you answer mine." Mercury asked.

Knowing he wasn't going to talk unless she gave in, Marron rolled her blue eyes and gave him what he wanted. "He was my team leader back at Beacon. After we graduated, he fell off the grid following the supposed murder of his family in Little Menagerie during the break-up of a protest by the police. After Vale, we knew he joined the White Fang and made a name for himself in it under the alias 'Chains', and now he's running free and just murdered three innocent people." Marron answered.

"I heard about it." Mercury answered, prompting Marron to stop looking down at the table during her recounting and back to the criminal. "The guards were talking about it. Somebody firebombed a Schnee store and carved up the employees inside or something like that earlier, right?" His answer was given to him in the form of a nod. "That sounds like a message to me, but for something Cinder would orchestrate, it's both too loud and too quick."

"What do you mean?" Marron asked.

"The original plan to breach Vale with a train crash and let Grimm pour in failed. That alone took over two years for us to pull of from establishing our foothold in Vale to enlisting Roman Torchwick and the White Fang's help. After that, it was hijacking Dust, armaments, mechs and other assets to take on the military and secure Vale long enough for us to get the Alpha Grimm and bring it under Cinder's control. Whoever the people who freed Chains are that let this happen did it within a week of getting him on their side. That's too fast, even for Cinder." Mercury explained.

"Why are you telling me this?" Marron asked.

"Because I've got nothing else to lose, and to show you I have no idea what's going on." Mercury answered. "If this was Cinder's plan, she would've let Emerald and I in on it a long time ago."

"Then give me your best guess on who's plan it is." the huntress suggested.

"There could only be one other person..." the kickboxer thought. "I only know this from accidentally overhearing it, but Cinder reported to someone over her. You may have taken the queen off the board, but the game's still going until you corner the king."

"Who's the king, then? And quit being so cryptic!" Marron demanded.

Mercury leaned in closer to accentuate his response. "Tell me, Blondie. What do you know about Doctor October Fall?"

* * *

 **And we'll end it there for now.  
**

 **Once again guys, I apologize for the wait between chapters. College and real life have been kicking my ass lately, and I've edited a few parts after yesterday's new episode. The detail they gave us on the hereditary nature of the Schnee family's semblance prompted me to add in that part between Weiss and Silbern. As of now we have a few questions that need answering. What does Mercury know about Cinder's secret syndicate and this Doctor October Fall? What's in store for Team RWBY next? And how will the White Fang strike next? Not all these answers will come at once, but you may get one next time. Until then, I'll see you lads and lasses around!**


	8. What We Know

"Doctor October Fall?" Marron asked again, making sure she heard the convicted criminal correctly.

"Yeah, Doctor Fall. Cinder's dad." Mercury reiterated.

"How is that possible? According to Ozpin, after he was arrested, Cinder and her sisters were separated by the foster departments and separated into different kingdoms." she explained, thinking the story of what the Huntsmen had on Cinder Fall was all they needed on intel for her.

"Well, considering Cinder's downward spiral into a life of crime and being an anarchist, she made up with dear ol' dad." Mercury shrugged before leaning in. "And that's really all I know. The only reason I know about that is because my dad worked the case that brought him in before I ran away from home."

"If your dad was a cop, you must've fell pretty far from the tree." Marron deadpanned.

"Nice insult. I'll be sure to use it if I ever run into cop kids behind bars." the silver-haired ruffian sarcastically quipped. "Also, I thought you were the one begging me to stay on topic."

With a slight smirk at that remark, Marron decided to heed his words. "Alright, you've answered my questions; now help me with a theory." she ordered.

"And what do I get in return?" Mercury asked.

"The opportunity to keep that face of yours pretty for your court appearance in the next few minutes." she threatened with a crack of her knuckles.

"You don't punch as nearly as hard as Yang Xiao Long." he sneered.

"Wanna put money on that bet?" she fought back. Weighing his options, he decided not to go out there and face the music looking like he just got in a prison brawl. As he leaned back in his chair, he gestured for the halberdier to ask away. "Good choice. Now, if it isn't Cinder, who is it, and would they want anything to do with the Schnee Dust Company?"

Mercury pondered for a moment with an audible 'Hmm.' before answering. "Well, Doctor Fall was Old Man Schnee's top egghead from what I heard. If it's him pulling the strings for whatever this is, he's bound to have someone you wouldn't expect acting as a man or woman on the inside for him."

Marron gave it some deep thought at who could be a possible double agent for Fall before her head turned to face the door at the sound of the locks disengaging. In stepped Commissioner Slate as two bailiffs passed between him and the seated blonde to gather Mercury. "I'm sure I'm interrupting a thrilling conversation, but that's all the time I can allot you, Marron." he apologized. "We're behind schedule enough as it is."

"I've got what I needed anyway." Marron shrugged as the click of the handcuffs being attached to Mercury's wrists was heard throughout the room. "Go easy on him. He was a good boy for once." she joked.

"If he wasn't partially responsible for one of the greatest attacks on one of our allies since the war forty years ago, I might take you up on that request." Slate answered, arms crossed over his chest, as the bailiffs lead the young criminal out and towards the courtroom. "Whatever it was, it better have been worth it."

"It'll do. Thanks again, Commissioner." Marron nodded gratefully.

"It was little trouble." the police commander said as he returned the nod. "Now this took quite a while. I suggest you get back to that team you were chaperoning."

The blonde's eyes grew wide as she remembered Team RWBY. "Oh, right! I could use a ride to the SDC."

* * *

The next few tests came and went as Team RWBY were pitted against different iterations of armored mechs poised to replace the Paladin-class. They ranged from the Vulcan-class, a glorified Paladin with built in flamethrowers that met an explosive end at the combination of Blake and Yang cutting the fuel lines and lighting it up with incendiary rounds, to the Reteiarius-class which ended up being ensnared in the binds fired from its own net gun before the girls could even land a hit on it. After defeating a forest-variant of the Paladin, complete with an axe and cannon that dubbed it the Port-class and named after their esteemed professor and famous Huntsman, another break occurred as the maintenance teams entered and went to cleaning the remaining pieces of the mech freshly destroyed by the four girls. Speaking of which, Team RWBY stood or knelt at different parts of the testing arena as they caught their breath and licked their wounds. Blake had a cut across her arm she was still in the process of healing from a near-miss from the axe. Yang was now sporting a decent-sized bruise on her stomach from catching a cannon blast she caught while off guard.

"It seems we're going to have to reinforce the armor and increase stabilization on the legs..." Weiss heard Rojas mumble as he surveyed the damage done to this prototype.

"It's something you can handle though, right?" Silbern asked. "My brother's already scheduled a testing for his foresting protection divisions in Mistral."

"I'll get our technicians working on it immediately." Rojas nodded before the men turned to face the girls.

"I'm afraid that's all we have for today, ladies." Silbern announced as he turned to face a clock on the wall behind the opaque protective barriers. It was only two hours away from the end of the work day.

"Aw, and to think I was just getting fired up!" Yang complained, ejecting the spent shells from Ember Celica and showering the floor with them.

"No need for worry, Miss Xiao Long. We'll have plenty of targets for you to take on tomorrow morning." Silbern nodded. "As for now, feel free to take a look around the offices if you so desire. Your work for the day is done, and you've all done a satisfactory job despite your supervising Huntsman not being here."

"ALL of us?" Weiss spoke up as the five turned to face her. "All of us really did satisfactory in these tests? Because I swear somebody basically said I haven't improved at all or impressed you in the slightest!" she snapped before storming off before a now confused Silbern could respond.

"Weiss, wait!" Ruby called, but the heiress did not heed her team leader's words and back towards the exit. Looking between Blake and Yang, the door, and Mister Schnee, who seemed to be doing his best to hide some sort of upset emotion Ruby couldn't make out. "Mister Schnee, I'm like, really sorry for Weiss' behavior. She's never done something like that before. Well, she has, but that was during an argument with Blake, and-"

"Miss Rose, please." Silbern interrupted, stopping the brunette reaper from continuing her apology at a mile a minute. "Just go calm her down. I have an idea what this was."

With a hesitant nod, RBY ran after their distraught teammate, discovering the few seconds of a head start was all she needed to baffle her friends where she ran off to. She wasn't in the lobby of the testing lab, as well as waiting in front of the elevators. "Damn, she could be anywhere now!" Yang complained.

"Let's split up. You and Blake check upstairs and I'll check downstairs." Ruby suggested as she walked towards one of the elevators and tapped the "call elevator" button. Complying, Blake and Yang did the same for the center elevator out of the three. "And, girls? Remember the real reason we're here, okay? If you find anything, find a way to let me know, but be discreet." Ruby reminded as her elevator arrived and she began taking it down to the ground floor. A moment later, Blake and Yang's arrived, only for one person to walk out of it onto the floor they were waiting on.

"Ah, Miss Belladonna and Xiao Long." Winter nodded as she stepped out of the elevator. "Is everything alright?"

"Not exactly. Have you seen your sister around?" Yang asked.

"Weiss? No, I haven't since I left the lab earlier." the elder Schnee sister shook her head. "Did I miss something?"

"Somewhat." Blake answered. "You wouldn't mind if we looked around upstairs for her, would you?"

"Not at all. Just be sure to show your VIP passes for the guards to know you're allowed up there." Winter reiterated before the two Huntresses could enter the elevator. With the permission, Yang decided to hit the top floor button that read "Floor 25: Executive Offices". It wasn't until the realization they'd be visiting one of the most upper class offices in all of Remnant that she and her raven-haired companion realized the two of them worked up quite the sweat. A pungent, almost metallic scent now filled the elevator.

"Heh...Probably should've hit the showers first." Yang quipped, fanning the smell away from her own nose.

"No turning back now." Blake shrugged as the elevator stopped in an almost blindingly white room out of the elevator into a hallway adorned with portraits of former CEO's and board members. Before they could even step out, two Atlesian Knight drones met them as they stood in front of the elevator doors at attention.

"Please show clearance cards or descend from this floor." one ordered in a heavily synthesized voice. Without hesitation to the security drone's order, Blake produced her's from her pocket, as Yang swiped hers from between her bosom and held it up for the robots to see. Confirming their authenticity, the drones stepped aside. "Thank you: VIP members. Please enjoy our hospitality." the drone complied as it let the two huntresses pass.

"Well, that was easy." the blonde shrugged as she re-pocketed her pass. "So, where should we start?"

"I'd say Silbern's office." Blake suggested as she stopped in front of two huge glass doors with the Schnee family crest carved into it. With a surprisingly easy picking of the lock on the door, Blake pushed it open and stepped into the large office. Above his desk in front of them and the huge bookshelves sat the same family portrait Weiss showed the ninja before they left for Atlas, but in a traditional painting form. Around the room seemed to be two smaller offices walled off from the rest of the office, the only light in the whole room either coming from the skylights above the smaller offices of the giant Dust crystal above them that made up a chandelier. "Weiss? Are you in here?" Blake called, getting no response, even after a few silent seconds of waiting for one. "Damn." she cursed.

"It's okay, Blake. We'll find her." Yang reassured her as she walked around to give the office a look. "But, we might as well look for clues while we're here." she smirked as she unceremoniously plopped into the swiveling armchair that sat behind Silbern's desk, immediately pulling up the desktop to his computer without hesitation. "No password? No wonder this company keeps getting stolen from." Yang muttered as Blake looked around. Scrolling through the number of files on his desktop alone, it took Yang a while of looking before she came across one open file labeled "Losses and Thefts". Intrigued, the blonde began scrolling through that, seeing it as an opportunity to find some of the dirt they were looking for.

In the case of the other member of Team RWBY present in the room, Blake was going between the two smaller offices. Upon closer inspection, she discovered the plaques hanging on their doors read the names of both Schnee sisters, Weiss and Winter. These were offices especially for them. While Weiss' was completely empty, save for a desk, chair, and a box of files, Winter's was more furnished being an active executive for the company. Her desk sat surrounded by plaques and accolades from her diploma from graduating Beacon to a mounted set of bladed revolvers that sat on the wall to the right of her desk. Like her teammate who took the initiative to check the computers first, Blake was about to check Winter's before something that glinted off the afternoon sunlight caught her attention from the alabaster desk in front of her. Picking it up, Blake took a good look at the bronze telegram with suspicion before the sound of Yang exclaiming something caught her ears.

"Blake, you might wanna take a good look at this!"

Pocketing the telegram, Blake speedily walked back into the main office and up to the CEO's desk as Yang waived her over. "Yang, I swear, if this is just you showing that video of the two girls and the cup again-"

"This time, I'm serious, Blake. Okay?" Yang defended before pointing to the screen. "Take a look at these files."

With a shrug, Blake looked over the documents Yang had on screen. At first glance, they just seemed to be a list of their products that had been lost or stolen. As she looked them over, she noticed something interesting. From the shipping dossier of a certain stolen train the Faunus girl remembered awfully well were labled with a few dozen Paladin mechs. Instead of them being labeled 'stolen' in the document, they were listed as 'paid in full'.

"You see that? Why would paid merchandise be thrown in with their stolen shipment files?" Yang asked.

"I'm not sure. Get this on your Scroll. We'll need it as evidence." Blake suggested. With a nod, the brawler attached her phone to a port at the base o the screen projector, and the file transfer began. Just as Blake started looking around, she heard footsteps coming from the hall. Thinking quickly, she dove under the desk, dragging Yang down underneath it and out of sight as the doors were forced open

"Bah, that troublesomen girl of mine!" The girls heard the recognizable voice of Silbern Schnee curse.

"Father, Weiss did...well for her first year. What has you so upset with her?" another voice asked, the hidden Huntresses identifying it as Winter's.

"For her to embarrass me like that in front of my own employees and business partners, that is the most disrespectful thing she has ever done to disgrace the family name!" Silbern practically shouted. "Winter, as of this moment, you are the sole heir to the company."

Winter sounded like she let out a shocked and exasperated exhale before responding. "Father, just reconsider this for a minute. You don't expect Weiss to be somewhat upset with your criticism of her first year at Beacon?" she then asked.

"Are you questioning me now, Winter?" her father asked, his voice becoming threatening.

"No. I'm just giving reason as to why she may have went off on you like that." the elder Schnee sister defended.

"Either way, she has the next few days to make me change my mind." he replied with a huff before the sound of footsteps grew closer, and Blake and Yang saw a shadow of someone coming behind the desk. Holding their breath, they tried to keep quiet as Silbern now stood in front of the desk. "Hmm? What's this? I left my computer...open...Huh." they heard him mutter to himself.

"Something wrong, Father?" Winter asked as the executive started walking away. The girls hidden in plain sight let out a silent sigh of relief.

"I need to have a word with the shipping department. They listed those stolen Paladins from last year under Completed Sales." he answered as his footsteps left the room. Blake and Yang were about to reveal themselves before hearing Winter's footsteps again, noticing she hadn't left the room. She now replaced Silbern's position in front of his desk as she looked over the files on the computer in question.

"Hmm. I'll need to be more careful covering my tracks." they heard her murmur before she shut down the computer and waited for her to leave. It wasn't until both girls were sure they were alone that they crawled out from behind Silbern's desk.

"What did she mean by that?" Yang asked.

"Read this. It'll give you the answer." Blake told her partner as she handed her the telegram she took from Winter's office, giving the brawler a moment to inspect it before understanding what the raven-haired girl was getting at.

"No way. Weiss' own sister?" Yang gritted her teeth, nearly going to crumple the piece of parchment before remembering it was evidence.

"We were told the double agent may be someone high up in the company. We probably should've expected something like this." Blake solemnly nodded.

"But still, this is going to be a pain in the ass to break to her." Yang grimaced as she looked at the telegram again. "What does it mean though? A new queen on the board?"

"We'll figure it out soon. Right now, we need to focus on finding Weiss." Blake reminded as they began walking out of the office to continue their search.

* * *

 **I'm just going to cut it short there for now. I'm sorry for keeping you all waiting this long for the next chapter. This was supposed to be longer, but I promised myself two things about this fic: To get the next chapter out before 2016, and get it out during the break RWBY has been taking for the new year. There's supposed to be a moment you'll have to wait until next time to see (Sorry btw), but I'm glad I was just able to get this out. Leave a comment down below to tell me what you think of it so far, and I'll see you lads and lasses in 2016!  
**


	9. Sibling Rivalry

"Weiss? You in here?" Ruby called as she looked into a darkened, locked executive lounge down a hallway past the cafeteria. While the whole wall between it and the hall she stood in was opaque glass, the dark furniture and lack of lighting, as the overhead lights were shut off, made it hard to see anything inside. She could make out a couch and dining table off to the side along with some counter tops and a miniature fridge, but nothing that appeared to be her distressed comrade. Stepping inside and flicking the lightswitch, the room became bathed in fluorescent light, revealing a cowering white-haired heiress behind the couch. "Weiss!" the reaper gasped as she ran over.

"Go away, Ruby." Weiss murmured, not taking her watery eyes off the portion of the floor she had trained them on.

"Not until you tell me what that outburst was about back there." Ruby demanded.

"It's not much of your business, Ruby, team leader or not." Weiss coldly replied.

"I know, but as a friend, it is." the brunette tried to reason, getting closer and kneeling down at Weiss' level. "Was it why you were crying after the first test?" Weiss shifted her eyes away again. "What did he say to you?" she pressed more.

"He basically called me a failure."

Ruby's eyes widened as the girl in front of her admitted such a thing. "Your own father? That can't be right. He's been such a nice guy so far." Ruby thought to herself aloud.

"Believe what you want. He said it right to my face." Weiss grumbled. "All because I'm not at the same level that Winter was at during my age."

"Speaking of Winter..."

Both girls turned to face Blake entering the room, Yang alongside her. "We need to talk about your sister, Weiss."

"Can it wait until Marron shows up? She's overseeing our mission. She should hear what you have to find too." Ruby asked.

"Wait no longer, kids!" Marron announced as she walked into the lounge the rest of her Huntress group was in. "So, what'd I miss? Probably not much, right?"

* * *

It wasn't long before the five were sitting in at the dining table of the break room listening to Weiss talk about how, in painfully accurate detail, her own father berated her accomplishments in her own face behind closed doors. While she had been part of the team that saved Vale from being torn to more pieces than Cinder and the White Fang had already left it in, all that seemed to matter to him was if she had been honing her semblance. She doubted if she beat Cinder singlehandedly, he would change his mind.

"Weiss, that's crazy. You've improved so much from since we first met you." Blake said, throwing in her two cents after the heiress finished her explaination.

"According to my dad, he doesn't care about what I've done; only if I can summon something with my glyphs." Weiss replied dejectedly.

"Summon something?" Yang asked, unsure what her friend meant.

"My family all has the same semblance. Everyone on my father's side can do so much more with our glyphs than just conjure elements or distort time." Weiss explained. "Some of us can create spirited versions of fallen foes."

"What, like necromancy?" Blake asked.

"Not exactly, Blake." Marron spoke up. "I've seen Winter do it before on a mission back when I was your age. Using the concentrated power of a glyph combined with a memory of someone or something a Schnee has defeated in the past, be it a Grimm or a person, they can summon a spirit-like form of it controlled by their aura."

"And it's the one technique I can't do." Weiss finished. "I've nearly perfected every other kind of technique from conjuring and time dilation to forming platforms and adhesive glyphs. Summoning's just something I haven't been able to do."

"Well, who cares what he thinks, Weiss?" Ruby spoke up again.

"Yeah, so what if you can't do that? Think of all the other things you already do with your semblance." Yang added.

"That is true..." Weiss said as she mulled over the advice.

"That's the spirit." Marron smiled before things became serious. "Now, why I left you guys earlier...I got some on how the breakout of Chad Aens and the mole here may be in common.

All of RWBY turned with wide eyes towards their supervisor. "From where? And how?" Yang asked.

"I had a word with an old friend of yours before his court appearance, Yang." the Arc answered.

"Mercury?" Yang asked in surprise. "What could he have told you?"

"Well, for one, there's a chance that it isn't Cinder who broke him out, but her father instead." Marron explained. "I don't understand the full story myself, but he did tell me that he's still using the mole that gave Cinder the codes she needed to take over General Ironwood's ship and drones."

"Did he give up who it was?" Weiss asked.

"Even if he did, it's irrelevant." Blake spoke up. "Yang and I found this while we were looking for you in Winter's office." she continued as she produced the bronzed envelope addressed to the older Schnee sister. It simply read, "A new Queen is on the board. Prepare for the next move."

"A new Queen?" Yang asked.

"The Black Queen chess piece was the image shown in that virus Cinder used to hack the military's hardware. If it was Cinder's codename, they may have gotten someone to take her place for the mole to report to." Marron explained, as she bit her lip at the sight of the envelope. "I'm really just hoping this is a cruel joke that it's my old teammate."

"You say you found it on Winter's desk?" Ruby asked.

"No, that can't be right." Weiss shook her head. "Winter wouldn't be capable of something like this."

"This evidence isn't pointing in her favor, Weiss." Yang solemnly explained.

"Weiss, I know this sounds crazy, but we knew it was somebody high up in the company." Marron tried to reason.

"But my own sister?" the heiress repeated, her voice starting to raise.

"Look, it probably isn't the case and this is just some sort of ruse." Ruby suggested. "I'm prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt, but we still need to follow up with this lead."

"Look at my lil' sister talking like a big tough leader." Yang cooed while the younger just rolled her eyes.

With a sigh, Weiss gave in to the thought. "Fine." she sighed. "But please, keep this serious, Yang."

* * *

It didn't take the five long to compose themselves for this juncture. The ride up the elevator was mostly silent as the girls waited as they reached the executive office levels on the top floors, the ones Blake and Yang were in not even an hour ago.

"We're sure it's her?" Weiss asked, speaking up for the first time since the team of Huntresses left the break room.

"Weiss, I know it's hard to understand, but there's nobody else who it could be with this evidence." Ruby solemnly said as the elevator reached the top floor of the company headquarters.

"Well, to be fair, we didn't guess who else it could be." Yang shrugged.

"We can rule out Weiss' father and that security guard captain, Morrison." Blake said with a roll of their eyes. "Their view on Faunus doesn't exactly share the same one as somebody that would work with the White Fang."

"Well, what about Doctor Rojas?" Weiss tried again, secretly hoping her sister wasn't the double agent.

"Wait, Sangre Rojas?" Marron asked. "I read about him. He's the one who ratted out Doctor Fall's experiments on his daughters. I doubt the Falls would want anything to do with him."

Weiss' heart sank further as she lead the group into her father and sister's office. That was it. There was no way she could try and help prove her own sister's innocence. She looked up as they walked in to find Winter speaking on the phone with someone as she kept her back turned to them, staring out the window as she continued her call.

"And remember to let them know the next phase of the plan doesn't go into effect until we're sure he's no longer in Atlas." they could hear the executive saying to whoever was on the other side of the line through a crack in her door. As Ruby knocked, the older sister did a double take as she looked back to see company behind her. "I'll have to call you back." she murmured as she closed her Scroll. "To what do I owe this encounter, Marron?" Winter asked as the Huntresses entered her office.

"Sit down, Winter. We need to talk about something important." Marron motioned to the desk as she and Weiss took the seats in front of it.

"It'll have to be quick. I have to join a meeting to attend to in ten minutes." Winter complied as she took the seat at her office chair next to them, her eyes scanning her former teammate, her younger sister, and the other three Huntresses in training standing behind them.

"Is it with October Fall?" Weiss asked accusingly, shooting up from her seat. The only reaction her sister gave in response was a blink and a raised eyebrow.

"...No, Weiss. It's with executives of the Zales Trading Company from Vacuo. They need to re-secure out shipping contract with us." she corrected. "What is this about?"

"I was hoping you could tell us." Marron replied, taking the telegram Blake procured and placing it back on the desk it was originally taken from. Winter's eyes narrowed for a split second. "It's addressed to you, Winter. We have reason to believe it came straight from October Fall himself."

"Winter, why would you be working with them? Do you remember what Cinder alone did?" Weiss asked.

Winter stared between the telegram and the girls before her for a moment before replying. "Weiss, girls, you don't seem to understand..." she started.

Weiss' eyes widened at that response, her hand immediately going for the hilt of Myrtenaster. "So it's true?" she asked, her voice raising.

"Weiss, calm down-" Marron tried to reason. The younger Schnee didn't listen as she fully drew her rapier and pointed it at her own flesh and blood, not faltering whatsoever.

"Winter Schnee, by order of the Huntsmen Association, you're placed under arrest." Weiss ordered, glaring her sister down.

For a moment, Winter did nothing. Her face was one of surprise of how her own sister was pointing a blade at her. She dared not to strike her, but the fact it was even pointed in her direction was a surprise. Slowly, she rose to her feet. The remaining members of Team RWBY kept their eyes locked on the wall-mounted plaque holding her pistols. They kept on edge, in the event she was planning to go for those to defend herself in an attempt to escape, even though there weren't many options of an exit to choose from. Instead, she sighs and locks eyes with her sister. "I was ready to explain myself, but you're leaving me no choice." she finally said. Unknown to the girls, her leg was edging for something under her desk.

"For what?" Weiss asked, her grip on Myrtenaster tightening to the point her hand started to ache.

"You know exactly what." Winter frowned as she suddenly flipped the desk with a swift kick upwards. Not even stunned for a second as the furniture in front of her, Marron and the rest of RWBY, Weiss summoned a glyph in the knick of time to pulse the desk back towards her sister, only for it to be slashed in half. Her eyes narrowed to find that her sister now held a dueling saber in her hand, waving the sword towards her younger sister enough for her to parry the deceptively strong strike before going for the window behind them.

"Wait!" Ruby cried out before the older Schnee dove through the window, her Aura protecting herself from the shards of glass flying out along with her. Weiss and Marron ran forward, expecting to find Winter dropping to the ground, only to see her sliding down the slanted glass roof over the offices of the lower floors.

"After her!" Marron ordered as she and Weiss leaped out after her, the rest of RWBY readying their weapons as they followed. With the help of her glyphs, Weiss closed the distance gap between her team and her sister, jumping forward as she sent a flurry of slashes with her rapier that were blocked easily by the saber she now wielded. As Weiss backed off from her failed attack, Marron took her place, producing wide swipes with her halberd that Winter had to duck to avoid. The sheer force of one strike missed, hitting a glass ceiling panel instead, smashed it to smithereens and rained tiny shards onto unsuspecting businessmen and women below. "When did you take up swordsmanship?" she called.

"All Schnees are adept in bladed combat. The pistols were a juvenile decision to take through Beacon!" Winter answered, before deciding there was enough talk as she summoned an adhesive glyph to slow Marron's sliding after her to a near full stop. Taking her place were the Rose-Xiao Long sisters as Ruby and Yang flanked her with fire from Crescent Rose and Ember Cilica. Each missed shot had to be dodged by the sisters. Winter was so busy staying focused on the shots coming from either sides of her, she barely noticed, out of the corner of her eye, Blake and Weiss coming in fast with a dual attack primed and ready. Thinking quickly, she pulled the pump on the inside of her saber's hilt, a small parrying dagger jutting out from the handle and giving Winter the second blade she'd need to defend herself from the incoming rapier and katana. The block made contact just in time, but the force knocked her off the edge of the roof they had reached, sending them plummeting fifteen stories to the parking lot below. To cushion all their falls, Winter formed a glyph for herself to land on, Weiss doing the same for she and Ruby to platform down. Blake was able to rappel down by using Gambol Shroud to hook on to an air vent jutting out of the wall on one of the middle floors. Yang and Marron took a more barbaric approach by just bracing for a hard landing on top of a rather expensive looking company car in the lot they landed in, leaving two massive craters in its roof and on its hood.

As she swung in with Gambol Shroud, Blake angled herself to go straight for a strike from above on Winter. However, the older sister was ready as she not only parried the strike with both the raven-haired girl's blades, but kicking out with her sharp high heels and smacking the ninja into the front bumper of another car with enough force to dent it and set off the alarm on it. As Blake shook herself out of it, she looked up just in time to narrowly dodge the saber lunging at her head in a stabbing motion, feeling the blade come very close between her hidden ears as she lept away under her leg before she could bring it down from her sword lunge. Yang and Ruby once again took her place, Winter using her parrying blade to keep Yang at bay with short stabs to counter her punches, while keeping her saber focused on combating Ruby's massive scythe. The plan was working, as at one point, one parry from Ruby and another counter from Yang accidentally had the two's weapons cross paths as Crescent Rose mistakenly hooked around the gauntlet on Yang's left hand. With the two in one place, Winter had no trouble sending them barreling into Marron with a kick through a propulsion glyph, leaving her just to deal with her sister and her Faunus friend. Wait...Faunus?

"Interesting..." Winter commented as she looked at Blake. It was that realization that not only was that near miss from earlier close to cutting between Blake's ears, but it slashed her bow off, revealing her cat's ears. "So not only do you trick us into letting you in to investigate us, but you also bring a Faunus with you." she commented.

Blake growled as she lunged forward again, ready to strike while Winter was in her monologue, only to be knocked aside as the platinum-haired woman dug her saber into a ground, the force of her glyph being summoned knocking her back. Out of it came a storm of pure white dwarf Nevermores that swarmed Blake. Every close swipe of their wings felt like razors slicing across Blake's skin as she tried to fight her way through the flock, only for it to disappear as suddenly as it began. Her Aura weakened from defending herself, Blake dropped to her knees in exhaustion, Gambol Shroud's cleaver falling from her grasp.

"Blake!" Weiss exclaimed as she became overcome with rage. Summoning a propulsion glyph of her own, she charged her sister at a ludicrous speed, while Winter herself simply replaced her parrying dagger into the slot on her saber's hilt, then keeping it drawn at her side. Feeling like she was being taunted, Weiss focused more Aura into her strike to the point Myrtenaster began to glow a feint white. Just as the strike should have landed, Weiss felt herself collide with an extremely heavy immovable force as she was suddenly thrown backwards by a thick hand and disarmed of her rapier in one impossibly quick motion. She hit the pavement face first and hard, the cold, rough asphalt stinging her face as she was dragged across it by the force of being shoved backwards. Once she came to a rest, she lightly pulled her head off the ground to find small red droplets dripping onto it. Looking into a puddle next to her, she discovered why: her scar had reopened. Fresh red blood dripped from just below her eye, all the while burning in pain like pure hell. She looked up to find the cause of what caused her to reinjure herself, the immediate sight of it filling her with dread. Standing in front of Winter, with a bright gold glyph charged in his gloved hand, was her father, a look of pure fury on his face. "F-Father..." she stammered.

"What is the meaning of all of this!?" he roared, Weiss flinching at the sound of his shout.

"It was Weiss, Father." Winter spoke up, while the younger Schnee could only stand there, completely mortified. "She attacked me in my office out of no reason."

"Th-That's not true at all!" Weiss tried to defend herself. "Father, she..."

"I've heard all I need to hear, young lady!" Silbern boomed again. "Attacking your own blood, damaging company property..." His monologue ended as his eyes rested on Blake, ears out for all to see. "...And on top of all of it, you have the GALL to sneak one of THEM IN HERE?" he roared again. "MORRISON!"

The chief guard ran up, another of his fellow security men following. He immediately read the situation as his eyes focused on Blake. "Mister Schnee, I have no idea how she didn't get flagged during the entrance screening.." he apologized before being cut off.

"Stop making excuses and just get rid of this...vermin!" he spat, Blake simply seething as she had no strength as Morrison and his company picked the raven-haired girl off the ground and away from ground zero of the quick battle that took place and completely decimated a half a dozen very expensive cars and left a large crater in the pavement. Crawling out of the wreckage of one of those cars was the other half of RWBY, plus their chaperoning Huntress.

"Where do you think you're taking her?" Yang asked viciously, her eyes glowing a dull orange.

"Where do you think, Goldilocks?" Morrison's assistant sneered. "Little Menagerie's the only place this little kitten belongs."

Yang was about to issue a retort, her eyes completely crimson, before Marron held her back as she stepped forward along with Ruby. "You can't detain a Huntress on duty, Morrison. That breaks Huntsman law on so many levels." she ordered.

"Yeah! Blake's our teammate!" Ruby nodded.

"Teammate or not, kingdom law trumps Huntsman law everywhere on Remnant." Morrison replied. "You're a hero around here. Call in a favor to Slate or something, and you'll get her back by morning."

Marron backed down at that statement, knowing she used her last chance for what ended up as a fruitless effort to gain information, leaving the two younger Huntresses feeling helpless as they watched their friend taken away, a security van pulling up intended for Blake. She quickly turned to the Schnees for an answer to this problem. "Silbern, Winter, you can't let them do this!" she yelled.

"I think I can for a chaperone who I thought was my friend, who let their Huntresses under her command attack me." Winter sneered.

"Enough is enough, Marron." Silbern ordered. "You are no longer welcome at my company or my home. You have the time you need to get your belongings, but afterwards, you are to leave this kingdom. I don't know what Ozpin is teaching your students, but I will have no more of them attacking my family." he finished, turning on a heel to walk away, Winter following him.

"Father, wait..." Weiss pleaded, stopping the businessman, but not making him turn her way.

"That goes double for you, Weiss." Silbern said coldly, his voice void of any emotion."As of this moment, I only have one daughter."

Weiss' whole world shattered at those nine words. She was completely speechless as she watched her father and sister walk off, the van transporting Blake driving off with the amber eyes of her Faunus friend looking back at her through the window. She was feeling numerous emotions at once as she was overwhelmed with them all. All she could do was sit there as blood and tears streamed down her face, not even caring as Yang picked her up into caring arms. "C'mon, Weiss. Let's get you cleaned up." she said, focusing on the well-being of her team rather than her anger at the moment. She could feel the heat from her frustration burning in her arms and chest as she was pulled close as they walked towards the exit, Ruby and Marron following with the discarded weapons of the distraught pair in their hands.

* * *

 **I've been waiting a bit to get this scene done, to put it into scale, much longer before they even revealed Winter at this past RTX. I'm finally glad it's done, and exactly how I envisioned it. I don't have much else to say, so I just want to thank you guys (and girls) so much for giving this fic the attention its gotten. I haven't gotten much praise or attention under any penname for any fandom I've written for in the past, so it really means alot that you all have been watching my work this far in. I missed my one year anniversary on this site a while ago actually, so that's my thank you speech from it. I read all my comments so please leave one, or at least a like, and I'll see you lads and lasses next time.**


	10. The Cat's Out of the Bag

Night had fallen across the timezone between Vale and Atlas City, and even with the sun having set not even an hour ago, Team JNPR was beyond tired. They had taken down scores of Grimm, terrorists and the likes of which they've fought enough to last a lifetime for the average person, but apparently, all it took them to reach their breaking point was caring for two young children. Jaune and Pyrrha were leaning on each other for support as the team walked into their dorm after having put Thorn and Emre to bed across the hall in RWBY's room, Nora kept her normal skip, albeit the enthusiasm was lacking, while Ren was on the point of passing out .

"Man...one day, and I've already had enough parental experience to last a lifetime.." Jaune sighed as he lounged back onto his bunk, cringing as he heard Thorn crying again, over what he couldn't imagine. He was well fed, just had his diaper changed, and wasn't feverish in the slightest. Whatever the pup was wailing about though was enough to set off Emre as well though. "Ugh...Pyrrha, it's your turn."

"And it's your nephew." she countered, already lying on her bed in a rather uncomfortable looking position, but she seemed too tired to care. With a groan, the team leader took the trip across the hall again to see what was wrong while the rest of his team started to relax and rest.

"How does Velvet do it, taking care of kids like them all day?" Ren pondered aloud.

"Whatever she does, I can't!" Nora whined. "Being a parent's boring and exhausting! I wanna go back to the days before we had them, when I was just a young, free-spirited and whimsical schoolgirl!"

"Nora, they aren't our children." the stoic reminded. "And last I checked, you still are."

"Aww, you always know just what to say..." the ginger girl cooed back before the sound of a vibrating Scroll clattering on their desk grabbed her attention. "Is that your's, Pyrr?"

"Jaune's..." the redheaded warrior goddess mumbled in her half-awake stupor. None of her team had ever seen her this tired. Shrugging, Nora walked over to the desk to answer the call while the Scroll's true owner was busy. "Jaune Arc's Scroll, this is his teammate, Nora, speaking. How may I help you?" she greeted in the same demeanor as a family restaurant waitress.

"Nora? What are you doing with Jaune's phone?" the person on the other half of the line asked.

"And hello to you too, Ruby." Nora smiled through the video chat to the brunette reaper. "Jaune's putting Thorn and Emre back to sleep at the moment. Thanks for leaving us with the most troublesome baby ever by the way." the hammer-wielder sarcastically grumbled.

"Troublesome?" Ruby asked.

"He hasn't stopped crying for more than fifteen minutes!" Nora whined.

"Aww, he probably missed me, sorry." Ruby apologized. "What about Zwei?" Nora said nothing as she pointed to the corgi fast asleep on a pillow at the foot of Ren's bed. "Well, good. You guys might be getting more rest than you bargained for, though. We may be coming home sooner than we planned."

"Oooh, really? You guys got your super secret mission all taken care of already?" Nora asked excitedly.

Ruby sadly looked across the hall from her guest room at the Schnee estate into Weiss' room. The heiress was still packing things on her bed, a bandage over her scarred eye to heal the damage done during her fight earlier with Winter. Even from the distance of a few yards, her keen silver eyes could make out the glimmer of falling tears coming from her eyes. Ruby had never seen Weiss this broken before. "N-not exactly, no..." Ruby replied, dejectedly, prompting a fading smile from the Valkyrie on the other side of the conversation. "Things haven't gone as planned. We couldn't find what we were looking for, and our cover was blown."

"That's no good." Nora sighed empathetically. "How about this: once you get home, and we get rested, I'll cheer you up by making Ren make you girls a special batch of pancakes, just for the four of you?"

Ruby bit her lip. "All four of us?" she thought, her mind focusing on Blake for a moment.

"Oh, well, Marron can have some too. Does she eat pancakes? I should probably ask Jaune beforehand." Nora said in response to Ruby's out-loud thought.

Ruby gave a forced smirk at that response. "Heh, well we'll cross that bridge later. I've got to finish packing, Nora." she said, excusing herself.

"Hmm? Oh, okay! See ya soon, Rubes!" Nora grinned as she said her goodbye and ended the call. Once her feed cut out, Ruby put her Scroll away before picking her knapsack and Crescent Rose off the floor next to her bed and started out to the hall. Looking down towards the stairwell exit, she could see Yang and Marron were all packed and ready, waiting on two separate stools across the hall from each other. The Arc sister was on her Scroll in a video call as well, this one directly with Professor Ozpin.

"What are you saying, Oz?" Marron asked, very annoyed from the look on her face and sound of her voice.

"Marron, I've tried contacting General Ironwood since you last contacted me, but he's not returned any of my calls. He must be busy in his search for Chad Aens along with the rest of the military." Ozpin explained.

"So the short of it is as long as he's in the dark about it, Blake's gonna stay in an internment district?" Marron snapped, Yang perking up to the conversation with a quiet look of worry on her face.

"I have a plan for that, Marron. Remain patient. I have a feeling Miss Belladonna will be out in due time. For now, secure passage back to Vale. We have much to discuss." Ozpin finished. Leaving the conversation on that cryptic note, the call ended, and Marron put away her cellular device with a huff.

"So that's it?" Yang asked. "Ozpin told us to go home without Blake?"

"We're not doing that, Yang." Marron reassured her, also looking over to Ruby to make sure the red-haired reaper understood as well. "We're not leaving Atlas without her, but we can't do anything to do it that would cause as much trouble as we already have after the past 24 hours."

"Half of it isn't shouldn't even be blamed on us!" she snapped, her eyes turning blood orange in color. "Winter started-"

"Winter started nothing, Yang."

The girls turned to find Weiss staring at them, her face downcast and a backpack of belongings dangling from the grasp of her left hand. "I instigated the fight, mouthed off to my father...I deserve to take full responsibility for this mission being a failure, just like me..." she trailed off as tears started to well up in her eyes again, looking down at the floor before two black and red boots now stood in front of the patch of floor she stared at. A firm grip on her shoulders brought her up to face her team leader's determined silver eyes.

"Weiss, none of it's your fault, you hear me? That's the last thing I'd think I'd ever hear from Weiss Schnee!" she exclaimed.

"It's just 'Weiss' now, Ruby." she replied in a monotone voice, loosening herself from her team leader's grasp as she started walking towards the foyer to leave. As she was about to round the corner to the stairwell, she passed her cousin and their flight attendant from the travel over from Vale yesterday: Nickel.

"Weiss, wait a second." Nickel tried to say to stop his distraught cousin, but she continued past him as if he wasn't there.

"I don't think she's in the mood, man." Yang shrugged as the rest of the present team walked up to him.

"Oh, well." Nickel nodded as he reached into his pocket, producing a sheet of paper with an address on it. "I took the liberty of getting you guys some lodging until you can get Blake back or until you return home. Whichever comes first, I guess."

Marron looked it over, before nodding a thanks to the servant of his own family. "I think Weiss would be grateful for this, Nickel, but why are you doing this for us?"

"Just because Weiss had her name taken away doesn't change the fact she's still family, at least to me." the white-haired young man explained. "To me, Uncle Silbern was kinda harsh on her. Me and the rest of the servant staff were explicitly told to stop helping you girls as clients of the family. This is helping you as a friend and a cousin."

"Whichever way you put it, we thank you, Nickel." Ruby nodded as they passed Nickel and walked to the front door. Weiss was already waiting for them, looking into one of the living rooms to the side of the door. Silbern sat in a chair facing away from the foyer, staring into a crackling fireplace as soft jazz music played from the speakers on a nearby shelf. He did not say a word as the Huntresses began to depart, but Weiss did as they began to file out the door.

"Father, I-"

"Leave, girl." he ordered coldly, shutting Weiss up as she slowly walked out the door and followed her remaining team to the front gates.

* * *

Harsh light shone through the back door windows of he vehicle from overhead streetlamps as Blake was jostled from the motion of the moving van running over potholes and speedbumps of the cracked pavement leading into the seedier parts of the city. While Atlas' largest settlement was known for having pristine buildings, carefully up-kept streets, and state of the art architecture, this part of the city looked nothing like how the rest was described. It truly reminded her of the small villages she lived in on the border towns between Vale and Vacuo: dilapidated structures and abandoned storefronts lined the worn old streets, lined with cracks and erosion from the lack of care. The looked, and judging from the shaking of the van, felt like they hadn't been paved since the first Vytal festival.

She could feel the van come to a slow as she noticed they had passed through a gate, the area on either side walled off by military grade steel walls. On top of them stood Atlesian military guards armed with high powered sniper rifles as they scanned the area that horrified Blake to see what was on either side of the road past the gates and walls. Through the high, barbed wire covered, chain-link fences on either side of the road were dozens upon dozens of Faunus that looked as though they'd been living in squalor all their lives. There were children in nothing but tattered clothes and frostbitten feet wrapped in rags. Groups huddled around campfires lit on piles of old newspaper and scrap pieces of wood or in trash cans. Everything about it screamed the word "Inhumane" in her head, and not just because the word was written in graffiti on a brick wall on the the inside of the fence.

Taking in the view suddenly became much more bright as the doors opened and the van came to an abrupt stop as two Atlesian soldiers looked into the back with lowered high-powered rifles. "Alright, come on out of there slowly. No funny business, Catgirl." one of them ordered. Complying, as she had no means of fighting back and nowhere to run, she carefully climbed out of the van before being roughly shoved forward towards one of the fences, where a smaller gate was waiting for her. Some of the residents had turned to watch the new arrival being forced into their community of nothing but shacks, abandoned buildings and poverty. "Welcome to Little Menagerie, kid." the guard smirked as she shoved Blake through the wire barrier separating the two sides of the road.

Blake landed hard in a puddle of slush as she looked back to watch the gate door close and the two guards walked away. She seethed as she dusted herself off, the fact that she was out at night with nothing to keep her warm from the naturally cold weather of Atlas as a shiver ran down her spine from a passing gust of wind.

"Hey, come on over. You look cold." one of the Faunus around the fire offered as he waived her over.

Taking the opportunity, Blake walked over to join the group of five others huddled around it for warmth. All of them were varying ages from a couple years older than her to senior citizens, one of which, an older woman with bear ears, coming to her side to drape a worn old blanket over her shoulders. "Oh...No, I couldn't." she refused, noticing the ragged clothes the elder woman wore that barely looked warm at all.

"Oh, don't worry about me, dearie." she smiled back.

"Yeah, Mama Bear here's been taking care of the new arrivals since she got here twenty years ago." another Faunus said, this one a middle-aged man with deer antlers.

"You've been in here for that long?" Blake asked in shock.

"Yes, but we've learned to make the best of it." Mama Bear sighed.

"How is this the best of it?" Blake asked, gesturing to the scenery around them. "You're living in squalor, wearing nothing but rags in below-freezing temperatures as if it's completely okay with you!"

"Well, what're we supposed to do, kid?" Another man asked, dog ears sticking out of his cap as he sat on a crate across from her. "This place is walled in with surveillance inside and out. If we tried to revolt and get out ourselves..." He paused to gesture to the stump that was his right foot. "...We wouldn't get that far."

Blake kept her facade of determination as she shrugged the blanket off. "Let me show you I'm the exception to that." she glared as she darted off, ignoring the calls from the locals for her to wait. She dashed through grids of makeshift shelters and abandoned buildings deemed unsafe to set foot into, trying to find a weak spot in the walls that towered over the buildings around her. Taking a right at an area she thought could work to her escape, she almost walked into two Atlesian soldiers standing in front of a young mouse Faunus boy.

"What do you want from me?" he cried. "I haven't done anything wrong! I was just looking for my mom!"

"Well, for starters, you scuffed my boot." One of the soldiers sneered. "And second, your mom's in jail for trying to break out just to get a job that's impossible for a rodent like her to get"

"N-no! You're lying!" the kid yelled.

"Dropped her off myself this morning." the other said. "So, I guess we can take you on down to join her."

"W-wait!" The kid pleaded as he backed away from the oncoming soldiers, only for them to stop as an ice-covered 2x4 was chucked at the back of the head of the first guard. They both turned to see Blake standing, unmoving as they advanced on her.

"Now that, right there, is a bad kitty." the guard she hit glared.

"And you're harassing a defenseless child!" Blake retorted.

"Well, then, allow us to explain why." the second guard shrugged, as the two lifted their guns. Blake was ready to stand her ground and fight back if it wasn't for the firm grip on her shoulder that pulled her behind the hand's owner: a cloaked man with some sort of massive sword on his back.

"Please, gentlemen. Pardon her; she's new and doesn't understand how things work around here." the cloaked man spoke in a raspy voice. Blake could almost smell the bourbon on his breath as he spoke.

"She attacked an officer of the Atlesian Military." the first guard growled. "It's gonna take more than begging to get us to forget the contusion she just gave me."

"I'll give you each fifty Lien." he shrugged.

"Deal." they both said as the cloaked figure gave them a wad of bills before they walked off.

"Don't let it happen again, Hairball-breath." the second guard sneered as Blake seethed as they walked off.

"They weren't serious, right?" the kid asked, getting Blake and her savior's attention. "My mom isn't actually in jail, right?"

The cloaked man smirked as he stepped forward and tussled the child's hair. "She'll be back, bucko. Trust me. How about you head back home and she'll be back before you know it." With a slight smile on his face and a nod the kid ran off, but not before announcing a grateful thank-you to the two of them.

"You didn't have to do that, you know." Blake spoke up.

"Well, someone had to keep you from getting in more trouble, kid." he huffed.

"I can take care of myself, thank you very much." Blake retorted, lying through her teeth. She was acting mainly out of fear of being alone and locked up abroad. The man in front of her could see right through it though, and she knew it.

"Even Huntresses need help at one time or another." he shrugged.

Blake raised her eyebrows slightly. "How did you know?" she asked.

He didn't answer at first, instead moving to pull down his hood, revealing a man at least in his forties with soot-colored hair, red eyes, and stubble across his jawline. "Because I believe you're the teammate of my nieces." he grinned. "Name's Qrow."

* * *

 **And that's another chapter down!**

 **So, this has been halfway finished for quite a while, but since I hit some writer's block and went back to college, I haven't had the time to keep up with both my work load for both school and this series, so I've taken a short break to get situated with my new availability to work on this. Gotta say though, I'm glad I got this one done, and hope you enjoyed it. Leave a follow or comment because I read all of my comments, though I may not reply to all of them, and I'll see you lads and lasses next time.**


	11. Among the Qrows

**So...I am far from okay right now...**

 **I've begun work on this chapter immediately after watching the Volume 3 finale. So many unanswered questions, so many things that were the last thing I wanted to happen, so much feels for one episode.**

 **So, eh, I know I've said it before, but it's pretty clear my works aren't cannon anymore, isn't it? Penny's gone, Roman's dead, Yang's down an arm, Pyrrha...well, you get it. That's not changing a thing from what happens next in my works from here on out. I'm dubbing my works for the Stolen Innocence trilogy as a new alternate timeline: The Fall Syndicate AU, where the events of SI, Broken Home, and a future story are canon in this timeline, as well as select one shots, but that's another story you'll have to wait for.**

 **...The more I type like I'm talking, the more I feel like Sans from Undertale. XD**

 **This isn't why you're here though. You came for another chapter right? Well, here it is. Leave a follow or a comment (I read all of my comments), and I'll see you lads and lasses next time.**

* * *

 _"With no sightings since their escape early this morning, authorities have turned to the public to see if they have had any of White Fang activity-"_

Click.

" _The SDC has issued a statement that the apparent fighting was not involved with the White Fang, but not who it was either-"_

Click.

 _"The events of today's terror attack on an SDC shop, and a later apparent fight at the company's headquarters the same day, have not slowed down the legal process for Mercury Black, the same man who-"_

Click.

 _"Will Vav save X-Ray and Mogar in time? Tune in next week to find out!"_

"Yang, please shut that off." Ruby requested, looking up from her Scroll.

"Man, this place only gets fifty channels, and all but one of them are only talking about us." Yang shrugged as she flicked off the television set of their motel's room. There was a major difference in the hospitality levels of the lodging they stayed in currently and the Schnee family estate. Ruby and Yang sat on the worn-out twin-size mattress to the left of the room, closest to the door, while Weiss sat out on the balcony overlooking the parking lot of the fast food joint next door and Marron sat on the adjacent bed from the two half-sisters.

"How can you even care about TV at this time anyway with everything that happened today?" her younger sister asked.

"It's the only thing I thought could get my mind off of it and calm me down." Yang huffed in response. Ruby couldn't help but notice her sister's eyes were a few shades between lilac and orange, and there was a touch of heat radiating off of her at the same level as a space heater on its medium setting. "Kinda hard for it to work when it keeps reminding us about all of it."

"What are we going to do, though?" Ruby asked. "Weiss is broken, Blake's been arrested, our cover's blown...I was really hoping our first mission overseas would be a success."

"These things happen, Ruby." Marron piped up from her side of the room. "Probably not to this degree of things being fucked up, but they happen."

"So, how do we fix them?" the blonde of the two sisters asked.

Marron bit her lip as her gaze shifted to the former heiress on the balcony, staring out absentmindedly. "The business between Weiss and her family might take some time. Ozpin's assured me he can take care of Blake's situation though."

Ruby's gaze shifted to a corner of the room by the grimy bathroom door where they laid their bags and belongings. Blake's backpack and Gambol Shroud sat slightly separated from the others by a foot. "How so?" she asked.

"To be honest, I don't know. He's assured us it's being dealt with, and I trust him in that regard." Marron replied, not exactly boosting anyone's confidence, but giving them an answer they could be somewhat satisfied with.

* * *

Blake followed the Huntsman through the slum to something that seemed out of place that normally wouldn't be caught at first glance. The door he stopped in front of was much more intact and not covered in graffiti. Opening it let the two into a small room that seemed to be man-made by the dusty old crow she had met. The back left corner had a cot while the one across from it was a desk covered in dust and files.

"You live here?" Blake assumed out loud.

"When I pay the good kingdom of Atlas a visit." Qrow shrugged. "I've been across Remnant a few times over, and set up a few secret caches if I ever come back to this place."

"What did bring you back?" the younger Huntress asked. It was very unlikely the Huntsman was here by coincidence.

"I was working a mission nearby when an old friend told me my nieces' teammate was in trouble with the local law." the elder of the two explained, producing a flask from his breast pocket and taking a swig.

"Oh, well, I'm sorry for pulling you away from whatever you were up to." Blake apologized.

"Don't be." Qrow countered as he swallowed the whiskey in his mouth. "The team I was chaperoning's pretty experienced and hardcore. I think they could handle being left alone for a bit." He put his flask away and turned back to the cat Faunus. "Now, onto the matter of getting you out of here."

"You have a plan?" Blake asked.

"For me to get out, yes." Qrow nodded. "For you, I have Plan B." He moved towards the cot, lifting it up in its hinge that kept it standing at a ninety degree angle and revealing a secret passage underneath. "This leads right into the sewage system. They won't know you're gone until tomorrow morning's roll call."

Blake took a look down into the tunnel before looking back to the Huntsman. "If this leads out of the camp, why not let everyone in here know?" Blake asked. "There's somebody I met in here that's lived here nearly all her life. That child we saved was probably born here. They could live so much better lives outside of here." she ridiculed.

"Believe me, the last thing I enjoy Atlas doing is keeping their own private Faunus enclosure, but if word got out about it, every last denizen in here's gonna take it." Qrow sighed. "Once the military notices attendance dropping, they're gonna start looking into why that is. It's better for everyone that this stays under wraps, at least for now."

Blake gave out a sigh and nodded as she hopped into the tunnel, looking up and expecting to see the Huntsman follow her down, only for him to begin resetting the bed over the hidden passage. "Wait, what about you?" she asked, holding the bed up before he closed it over her.

"I've got my own way out. You just get going." he said in a hushed tone as they both froze the sound of knocking on the door from the outside.

"Hey! Who's in there?" a voice called. Both recognized it as one of the patrol guards from earlier. Acting quickly, Qrow shut the hatch with a loud thud as Blake began her escape, probably arousing more suspicion as the guards barged in. All they were met with was a musty squatter's hut with a startled crow squaking at them as it flew in between the two soldiers.

"Gah! Dumb bird!" one of the guards cursed as he moved out of the way of the illusionary fowl. "Was that it?"

"Look at this place; there's stuff knocked over everywhere." The other noted. "Whatever. We're behind schedule for the guard change. Let's go."As the bird watched them leave, he made a mental note not to use that hideout again, as it was compromised.

* * *

It was moments like this Blake was glad she wasn't a dog Faunus. She didn't think her nose could take the strong scent of whatever foulness was in the sewage water beside her as she meandered through different corridors of the pipelines beneath Atlas City. She felt like she had been traversing the maze of darkness and sickness for a while since Qrow had broken her out of Little Menagerie. Knowing she had no way of getting a hold of her team with her Scroll being confiscated and no knowledge of where the pipe she was walking through lead, Blake decided to get out through the next manhole she came across. First lightly lifting it up to make sure the coast was clear, she scanned the area. She seemed to be in a seedier part of what was considered to be one of the most luxurious cities on the planet, the only car on the street being sat upon cinderblocks in front of a closed down store whose worn out sign read "Coal and Sons' Dust Shop: Family Operated for Twenty Five Years!" Behind her was an old, but still operating, motel, which had a familiar sight sitting in one of the balconies with a shocked look on her face as she saw somebody climbing out of the sewers.

"Weiss?"

"B-Blake?"


	12. NOTICE: Look at this Shit!

**Hello darkness, my old friends.**

 **I've come to talk with you all again.**

 **Because college life is sucking time away.**

 **From working on these fics all day.**

 **And updating every other month really sucks**

 **For me and all you schmuks**

 **And leaves this fic in the sound...of silence...**

 **So yeah, I've had that song stuck in my head. But yeah, I've been trying my best to update my ongoing fics, but between the massive amounts of homework I've been getting through college, plus having a social life (It's hard to believe, I know, but I do have one) is kinda sapping away time from working on Broken Home, Rose's Last Bloom, and some other ideas I have in mind for one-shots. With that in mind, I just want to thank you for all being patient waiting for these updates, which is why I hope I get this chapter done much more quickly than last time. That message from last time was actually true. I started Chapter 11 after finishing the Volume 3 finale the day it premiered for sponsors, and I didn't publish it until a couple days ago. You guys don't deserve to wait that long, and I apologize, but real life takes priority over hobbies sometimes. I still want to finish this fic as soon as possible, as I already have plans drawn out for a third fic to round out this series into a trilogy, and want to get started on it as soon as Broken Home is finished.**

 **Also, one last thing. If anyone is planning to go to RTX this year, you may see me while you're down there! My fanpage on Facebook, The RWBY Network, is having me be their representative to all things going on down there, so keep an eye out. I can't confirm just yet since I'm still saving money for lodging and travel costs, but I may be cosplaying as my admin's namesake character: Mercury Black. It'll be the first time I've cosplayed since a Halloween a long time ago where I dressed as Kisame from Naruto. But like I said, I still haven't decided if I will or not, so there's a good chance that might not happen. All that's definite is that I am going for all three days this year to my first RTX ever and couldn't be more excited. On that note, as a way to make it up to you guys (and gals; I'm not sexist), I'm gonna get started on the next chapter of Broken Home and get it out to you all as soon as possible. Until then, I'll see you lads and lasses around!**


	13. Eviction

For what felt like a long time, but what was only a matter of a moment, Blake and Weiss had their eyes locked on one another, not doing much except for the former as she finished crawling out of the manhole. Once she was fully out, the former heiress just short of lept from her second floor balcony and charged towards the Faunus, leaping against her and pulling her into an embrace the raven-haired girl wasn't prepared for.

"Wha-Weiss?" Blake gasped as her comrade hugged her.

"Did they hurt you?" she was given in response.

"What? No! They just arrested me and threw me in there!" Blake answered, her eyes falling on the scarred eye of the heiress, currently covered with a wad of gauze and bandages. "The better question, are you?"

Weiss gaze faltered as she stared off into space. "I've been better...though I couldn't live with myself if one of my friends got hurt because of my family." she answered finally. "We should probably get out of the street. If someone saw you without your bow, they'll report us."

"Right..." Blake nodded, giving a quick look around as they ascended the staircase, pausing at the top as they came in view of their team leader as she stepped out to the soda machine outside their room. Forgetting the drink she just purchased, Ruby let out a loud gasp as she realized the heiress wasn't alone.

"Blake! You're okay!" the redhead cried as she bolted forward and wrapped the Faunus girl in a deceptively strong hug, as well as alerting her sister and team's chaperone inside as they peered out the door to see what was going on.

"Wha-Blakey? How'd you get free from the cops?" Yang asked.

"If you'd let me inside, I can tell you." Blake answered, peering over her shoulder. She couldn't help but feel she was being watched, a feeling Marron shared as well. Without even a second thought, the team entered the motel room, not taking into account the crow flying towards them or the cloaked individual watching them from afar across the street as she dialed a number on her Scroll.

"Yes, police? I'd like to report a Faunus blatantly walking about in public." Violet smirked as she filed the report in false disgust.

* * *

"And that's about it." Blake finished as she ended her story of breaking out of the internment camp in vivid detail. Needless to say, the conditions Blake described were less than ideal, and disgusted the group.

"Our uncle's in Atlas?" Ruby asked, deciding to wait for the raven-haired ninja to finish her retelling before asking any questions.

"From the sounds of it, he's chaperoning a Huntsman team from one of the academies. A better question is how he recognized me, and even knew I was in trouble." Blake answered, pondering those two things ever since she first met the man.

"That's probably what Ozzy meant when he said he had the situation involving your arrest under control." Marron assumed. "I don't know much about this Qrow, but what I do know is he's an academy teacher as well."

"Yeah, he teaches at Signal with our dad." Yang nodded. "Ozpin's been good friends with the headmaster there since we went there as kids."

"But how did he know where Blake would be and who she was?" Weiss asked.

"Eheh, I may have been sending back weekly progress reports home since we started at Beacon." Ruby admitted with a nervous laugh.

"What's the embarrassment for, Ruby? That kind of info got Blake back to us!" Yang smiled.

"Yeah, but I did kind of let it slip to him that she was a Faunus, back when we found out..." Ruby murmured.

Blake chuckled at her leader's admittance as she shook her head. "I don't care about that anymore, Ruby. Everyone of our friends knows it by now anyway." she smiled. "When you see him again, give him my thanks."

"Or you could just thank me now."

All five turned to see Qrow standing behind the glass sliding door leading out to their room's balcony, a few loose black feathers scattered around him. Ruby and Yang's faces lit up at the sight of him, the younger appearing in a flash at the door as she quickly opened it and wrapped her relative in a deceptively strong hug. "UNCLE QROW!" Ruby shrieked in delight. "It's soooo great to finally see you again!"

"Didja miss us, big guy?" Yang laughed as she joined the hug, the older man stifling a grunt of displeasure as he was wrapped in a bear hug by his two very strong nieces.

"Heh, nope." Qrow joked as he tussled Ruby's hair and somehow broke free of Yang's grasp.

"Oh, cut it out. You know you did!" Ruby laughed back, sticking her tongue out at him.

"All I missed was all the action you were involved with a few months back." Qrow replied. "I heard you kids did what dozens of generations of Huntsmen couldn't and killed an Alpha Grimm. I'm pretty proud of you two, kiddo." he said with a smile.

"Thanks, Uncle." Yang smiled. "Oh, by the way, meet the rest of the team! You already know Blake, and that's Weiss and Marron, our supervisor."

"Oh, Monty, I knew I remembered you." Marron groaned as she looked up at the alcoholic with an unamused expression.

"Did we meet somewhere before, Blondie?" Qrow asked out of genuine confusion.

"Yeah, you were the drunkard that crashed mine and Winter's reunion at Beacon, called me fat, then picked a fight with Winter that involved the ballroom catching on fire." she explained, in vivid detail that surprised Weiss and Blake and made the two half-sisters sigh and shake their heads in disapproval.

"To be fair, you were kinda chubby back then." Qrow defended himself, to no avail.

"I was pregnant, asshole!"Marron growled, and causing Qrow to mentally dope-slap himself. She was about to continue the tirade before stopping herself and seething as she regained her composure. "Whatever. Nevermind; it's in the past. I should thank you for breaking Blake out of Little Menagerie."

"I was just following orders from Ozpin." he shrugged. "By the way, how's the Ice Queen been?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Weiss answered for her chaperone, turning away with a hurt and angry look on her face. Reading the situation, Qrow could only guess not only this was the sister of that icy bitch he accidentally upset almost two years ago, but the fact she didn't want to talk about Winter was probably related to the fact of why her eye was covered in gauze, Blake was arrested, and Ozpin had to call him in from his mission with that advanced class team.

"We'll talk about it later then." Blake sighed. "How's your eye, Weiss? Still bleeding?"

"My Aura should've stopped that by now." Weiss answered, placing a finger on the wad of gauze over her eye and checking if it was still tender.

"Let's check. We should probably change that bandage by now if it isn't stopped." Ruby suggested as she grabbed a roll of bandages from her utility pouch and plopped herself down in front of Weiss. She carefully helped her comrade remove the wad over her eye before pausing, almost audibly gulping as she took a good look at it and Weiss' injured eye readjusted to it regaining the ability to see.

"How bad is it?" Weiss asked, noticing her leader's stare.

"Well, it's just...your scar..." Ruby stuttered, looking at the new line it formed at the bottom of her original scar, now making it shaped like an upside-down cross. "It's a bit bigger now."

Weiss said nothing as she got up and looked in a mirror on top of their room's dresser. Sure enough, Ruby was right as she shakily ran a finger across the new mark overlapping her old wound. "Not again..." she growled as looked at the edited blemish on her alabaster skin. She didn't have much time to lament at this as she noticed a strobing flash of red and blue light coming from the window.

"I think we got bigger problems." Yang pointed out, looking out the same window. From outside, a group of squad cars from the Atlas City Police Department had pulled up outside, some of the officers climbing out and making a break for the motel.

"Blake Belladonna! We know you're in there! You're under arrest for escaping from the Little Menagerie habitat!" one officer announced from outside through a bullhorn.

"They realized you were gone pretty quick..." Marron commented, looking out the window.

"How'd they zero in so fast though?" Blake asked.

"It doesn't matter." Weiss spoke up, quickly retrieving Myrtenaster from where it was propped up against the wall. "We can't get out of here without getting arrested, so we need to move now."

"What about returning home?" Ruby asked.

"It'll have to wait, I guess." Marron shrugged. "Also, just because our cover's blown doesn't mean we have to abandon the mission. It just makes it more challenging."

"I like the way you think." Qrow grinned. "I know a place we can hide out, as long as we can get out of the city."

"So what's the plan to get there?" Yang asked, most of the group startled as instead of an answer, the pounding of a fist on the front door of the room followed.

* * *

"Open up!" a police officer called, waiting on the other side with two others to enter and arrest the ones inside. They waited a few moments for a response, not expecting what was to come next, or having any idea what was to come next. Nothing. No response, no sounds they could hear through the door; just complete silence.

"Do you think we have the wrong room?" the officer across from the first asked as he went to peak through the wrong side of the peephole, trying to look inside the room. He didn't get much of a view as the door was thrown off its hinges into the lawman's face, knocking the door on top of him as six blurs of color dashed out of the room and over the balcony behind them. The cops cursed and tried to fire off some rounds at the runaway Huntsman and Huntresses as they left, none of them hitting as they made it to the next rooftop, starting to free run through the low roofed structures throughout the district. It wasn't long before the wails of sirens started following them, some of the group looking back to see squad cars following them on the ground through streets of light evening traffic.

"Okay, now we've got them chasing us!" Ruby shouted, looking back at some of the pursuing cruisers behind them.

"What's the plan, Qrow?" Blake asked.

"We make a break for the gate to the tundra outside the city! I have a contact at the prison that can vouch for you all!" Qrow explained, leaping over a large gap between two buildings.

"So, run from the cops to one of the most heavily guarded parts of the city?" Weiss asked, calling out the Huntsman on the ludicrousness of this plan. He was suggesting they climb over a guarded gate that always is swarmed with military police to watch vehicles and civilians exiting and entering the city from the frozen wasteland outside of it as they traveled to outposts set up for military operated prisons or mining operations by the Schnee Dust Company.

"You have better ideas?" Yang called before a loud whirring sound started drowning out her words. They looked back to find a police airship chasing them at a low altitude, a blinding spotlight attached to its nose shining down on the six of them.

"This is your last warning!" A speaker on the aircraft announced to them as it barred down towards them. "Stop now and surrender!"

"Surrender for what?" Yang growled back. "We didn't do shit!" Her shout fell on deaf ears as two police snipers leaned out from the troop bay and taking aim at them.

"Scatter!" Marron ordered as the snipers started taking fire from the snipers. Luckily, the bullets nor the weapons were strong enough to pierce the Aura shielding each of them possessed, not that they were getting hit by any. Ruby and Blake both had the speed and flexibility to dodge the shots as they jumped between roofs, while the rest simply dodged the shots or used their weapons to block any shots that came close to hitting them. "Qrow, we better get there soon, so help me Monty.."

"Relax, Blondie. It's right up ahead." Qrow called back as he gestured with his massive sword towards the city's border walls that dwarfed the ones in Vale by twice their size. In the center of two monolithic watch towers sat an equally large steel gate that had looked to be decades old, the side facing out towards the cold of the northern frozen wasteland covered in frost heaves and claw marks from attempted entrances from Grimm of all kinds.

"We've got to climb that?" Ruby asked.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Qrow chuckled at his niece. "We're going right out the front door." He said this, of course, as a dozen or so police vehicles blocked the way, their occupants climbing out and taking defensive positions in front of the gate.

"Still going out the front gate?" Weiss asked skeptically.

"I know I am!" Yang yelled as she boosted forward, readying a haymaker that when it impacted the ground right in front of the blockade, sent the cruisers and policemen flying into the wall and gave the group the opening they needed to escape on the road leading away from the city.

"Don't let them get away!" one of the policemen yelled before he started after them. Before he could follow, a blur of black and white dove in between them nearly landed on top of the officer.

"Griffon!" another yelled as the chimeric Grimm shrieked at them before two Atlesian knights acting as sentries stepped forward to hold it off as the gates shut behind them. Looking back, the young Huntresses watched as the lone, naive Grimm was gunned down by the military drones and the massive gates shut, sealing the outside world off from one of the last bastions of society.

"No turning back now, right?" Ruby asked, looking back.

"Not until we can get you all acquitted." Qrow answered.

"How far is it from here to the prison?" Blake asked.

"If I remember correctly, back during the Goliath Stampede a few years back, it took us about two hours to get from the gate the prison to bail out the guards by truck." Marron remembered.

"It'll take four times that on foot." Blake thought. "Maybe even longer if we stop to rest or run into any Grimm."

"Not if we take a shortcut through that mountain pass ahead." Weiss suggested. "This road takes a curve around this pass to the prison and mines to avoid avalanches and reduce Grimm encounters. The other end of it ends at the cliffside the prison base is built into."

"Good thinking, Weiss." Ruby smiled. "Let's get a move on." With nods of confirmation, the group took a left off the road and into the ice fields leading towards the mountain pass, unknowing of the pair of sapphire eyes staring them down from atop one of the watchtowers. Violet watched from afar, unnoticed by any soldiers patrolling the border wall as she stood on the roof, before the vibrating of the Scroll in her pocket got her attention.

"Chains, good timing." she smirked as she answered the phone.

"The men are ready as you requested." the brute responded from the other end of the line. "Where do you want us to go?"

"Have them on standby." she replied. "I'll message you with my location once they lead me straight to the Alpha Grimm cell."

* * *

 **For a thousand years, I have waited in slumber for the day where- You know what? Forget that schtick. You've been waiting long enough for a new chapter.**

 **Man, I have missed writing for this story. The last weeks of school and trying to ensure my passing of these courses have taken its toll, but from here on out, it's plenty of free time up until RTX. I haven't been able to finish writing the story, but I've got the whole rest of the story, plus its sequel, planned out in my free time. I want this one finished up as soon as I possibly can because I'm really excited for the third part of this trilogy. Point is, I'm back, and hopefully, more frequently posting than ever. I hope you enjoyed this return to the story, leave a comment if you did, and I'll see you lads and lasses around.**


	14. Cold Feet

"You arrested and pursued the heroes of Vale?"

The police captain standing before his two C.O.'s, Ironwood and Slate, could only stutter at this point, trying to find the right words without sounding foolish. "Sirs, if I may, one of them was a Faun-"

"Captain, don't even dare finish that sentence." Ironwood glared. "That girl was one who saved my life during Cinder Fall's attempt to destroy Vale. If more word gets out than it already has she was arrested, it could damage relations with our most trusted allied kingdom."

"With all due respect, General, we had to arrest her. Mister Schnee ordered my officers to do so after her team attacked his daughter, Winter." the captain spoke up again, trying to salvage what little defense he had left.

"Your officers take orders from you! Not a civilian, not even one that runs the world's largest corporation!" Slate bellowed from behind Ironwood's office desk.

"May I ask why they were even attacking her in the first place?" Ironwood asked.

"Um...According to the witness statement from Miss Schnee..." the captain paused to flip through a folder in his hand. "Her sister, Weiss, believed she was a double agent for the Fall Family."

Ironwood furrowed his brow, pondering what this meant. Was this what Ozpin's numerous voicemail messages on his office answering machine were about? "I see. That will be all then, Captain." he nodded, getting up from his chair.

"Sir?" the police captain asked, confused on what to do next.

"He's saying you can go. I suggest you do." Slate ordered, eyes narrowed at his officer. Deciding not to take up any more time of his superiors, the police officer made his leave. Once the doors closed behind him, Slate turned to the general. "James, what was that about?" he asked, just as confused as the officer they were questioning.

"Roark, from this moment on, I'll take care of the situation involving Team RWBY." Ironwood spoke, surprising Atlas' police commissioner.

"If this is because of my officers, James, let me assure you-"

"Don't worry. It isn't." Ironwood explained as he stood up, leading him over towards the door. "You've got your hands full already with the Mercury Black trial and these White Fang insurgents starting to cause trouble in our city. Take the rest of the night off and get some rest." he suggested.

"Well, that's rather generous of you, Ironwood." Slate shrugged. "I'll contact you in the morning, old friend." he said as he left for home. Once he was sure he was alone, James returned to his office's desk to place a phone call to another old friend of his. After selecting the contact he was looking for and a moment to make the connection through the CCT routers, the image of Ozpin appeared on screen in front of him.

"I just heard about your team, Ozpin." he said without a hello. "Let me be the first to apologize for the actions of the law enforcement officers involved as well as my men."

"James, these are men simply doing their jobs. As much as a critic I am about Atlas' stance on Faunus livelihood in the kingdom, these men were following orders." Ozpin replied.

"Orders that came from Weiss' father of all people..." James muttered. "I'm going to do what I can to pardon them, but another issue concerning them has arose."

"Would it be the fact they're in the tundra outside the city barriers now?' Ozpin asked.

"What?" James gasped, taken aback on how Ozpin knew about this without Ironwood telling him. "How did-"

"I have another Beacon team contracted in clearing out a large concentration of Grimm north of the prison." Ozpin began to explain. "The Huntsman supervising them is Qrow."

"Of course..." James sighed with a roll of his eyes. It also explained who the sixth person was in the report of the chase from earlier. "Do you think he's heading where I think he's heading?"

"I can only infer from their heading, but I suggest checking there if that's the case." Ozpin nodded.

"Of course, old friend." Ironwood agreed. "I'll keep you updated." With that said, Ozpin gave a nod in return as the screen went black, indicating the call was ended by the caller from Vale. This week was just getting more busy and complicated by the minute. He didn't have the time to travel outside of the kingdom, however, he did have an agent who did. He had another phone call to make.

* * *

"Brrrr..." Ruby shivered as the group continued traveling through the snow-covered tundra between Atlas and the maximum security prison. "W-We probably s-s-should've stocked up o-on w-w-warmer clothes..." she thought through the chattering of her teeth.

"Come on, Rubes. A couple winters ago, you went out in less to practice slaying Grimm." Yang reminded, looking at the more padded clothing her younger sister was wearing, as well as keeping her cape wrapped around her to trap her body heat more so. The pyro herself was wearing her usual outfit with a body glove underneath so even she could keep warm.

"W-well winter's a-a-aren't this c-cold in V-Vale!" Ruby fought back.

"How are you holding up, Weiss?" Marron asked, wrapping a scarf around her face for warmth.

"I grew up in these conditions all my life." the duelist answered. "Most people from Atlas learn to tolerate it. Why else do you see people walking around in casual clothes in temperatures below forty degrees?"

"Good point." Blake shrugged as she walked along with the gang, using a cloak she brought along for warmth. "What about you, Qrow?" she spoke up, noticing the grizzled veteran out of the bunch not doing much to keep himself warm...that is, until they noticed him bring the mouth of his flask to his lips.

"Oh, I'm doing just fine, little kitty..." Qrow smirked.

"Qrow, she's less than half your age, you drunk sicko." Yang growled, not amused by her uncle's drinking habits.

"Relax, Yang. I may be drunk, but I don't do that kind of thing." he said, waiving off his niece's concern for her teammate.

"Do you at least know which direction you're taking us in?" Marron asked.

"Course I do. I've been through the eastern pass before..." Qrow shrugged.

"Qrow, we're traveling northwest." Weiss deadpanned.

"...Uh oh." he mumbled, not setting anyone at ease with those words.

"Seriously?" Marron asked. "Even non-local Huntsmen know this is a Grimm breeding ground!"

"Maybe we came while they weren't home?" Ruby asked as they scanned their surroundings. They had yet to find any of those creatures, even if they looked hard enough through the snow whipping through the arctic wind.

"I wish that were the case..." Blake spoke up, her cat ears twitching as they picked up sound ahead of them, placing a hand on the hilt of Gambol Shroud. The rest, minus Qrow as he tucked his flask in his pocket. Just as Marron and Ruby took point, Crescent Rose and Aurum Wing aimed ahead of them, blurs of black came running at them. As they got into range, Ruby took note of their appearance. They were quite obviously Beowolves, but these ones were much more bony and had bushier fur, probably to counter the harsh cold of the icy mountains.

"We got more behind us!" Yang announced as she looked behind her to see more Beowolves coming at them, fangs gnashing and howls echoing through the pass to call more Grimm to the bountiful feed in front of them. Blake and Yang moved to cover their rear, ready to intercept them as they got closer. Just before they got too close, Ruby and Marron opened fire, the sniper blowing the brains out of any Grimm in her line of sight as Marron simply blew them apart with her mortars. Behind them, Yang and Blake peppered the incoming Grimm, but with Blake's small arms fire, and the slugs in Yang's gauntlets not effective until the beasts were right on top of them, they were going to need assistance. Weiss joined them as she summoned a plethora of ice glyphs to shower the incoming enemies in icicle spears. As more and more Grimm continued to pour in, Qrow joined his younger niece and her team chaperone as he pulled his greatsword out, parts of the older model of mechashifting weaponry clicking and whirring into place as it unfolded to a blade whose length matched Ruby's height. Another click on the lever on the hilt, and the blade began to curve and the hilt extend to a scythe that dwarfed Crescent Rose as he jumped into the break between them and started carving through multiple Beowolves with each swipe. As both Ruby and Marron's ammunition began to run low, Ruby and Marron joined him as they began to cut through them with their own scythe and halberd. The remainder of Team RWBY had to join in as they all went back to back as the rear almost became overrun.

Things were looking very bleak at the moment, as the volume of Grimm was much heavier than those that broke through during the breach of Vale after their mission to Mountain Glenn. They were tired from constantly being on the move since leaving Atlas, and the horde of Grimm surrounding them was ebbing away at each of their individual aura pools.

"Anybody got any bright ideas?" Yang asked.

"I'm low on dust and Aura..." Weiss said, checking the levels in Myrtenaster's chamber.

"At this point..." Qrow sighed, looking around them. "Just hope for the best."

Just as the Grimm lept at them for another attack, the crack of a pistol blew the face off of one ready to pounce on top of Yang. A duo of explosions blew a large chunk of them apart to their left as the sound and blue flash of a pulse rifle could be seen on the group to their right along with the sound of a blade slicing through screaming Grimm.

"Who the hell is that?" Marron asked.

"Probably the team I came along with." Qrow thought. "Keep up the intensity! We can beat them!"

"Right! We got this, girls!" Ruby agreed as she separated a Beowolf's head from its body. The group began methodically finishing off the beasts as they got ever closer to fighting their way out of the crowd to the point any weaker or smarter Grimm got the message that this was an uphill battle fot them now that the humans had reinforcements and their numbers were now thinned out severely. As they ran, Team RWBY looked at their saviors, trying to recognize them as they were told it was another team from Beacon, but the cloaks and scarves wrapped around their faces made it hard to recognize, that and only two of them had their weapons in plain view: a massive sword being held by the tallest out of them, and a cutlass and flintlock pistol in the hands of one jumping down from a cliff overhead of them. The answer was pretty obvious when one turned around to reveal a familiar pair of goggles and a pulse rifle.

"Neptune?" Blake asked, the blue-haired intellectual pulling his hood and balacava down to reveal his face.

"Fancy meeting you here, Snow Angel." he smirked.

"Nep, save it for when we're all back home." Sun joked as he revealed himself as well, the final two pulling their scarves off to identify themselves as Scarlet and Sage and make up the rest of Team SSSN.

"What're you lot doing out here?" Scarlet asked, holstering his weapons.

"Well...It's a long story." Ruby began.

* * *

 **And that'll do it for this chapter. I've been wanting to get another one done for at least one of my ongoing fics before I head out to Austin for my first RTX. I don't have much to say other than this this time around, so leave a favorite or a comment if you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you lads and lasses next time!**

 **Note: This chapter is dedicated to my Uncle Thomas, who suddenly and tragically passed away during the writing of this chapter. Rest easy, Uncle.**


	15. Braving the Storm

"Well, that's gotta be a helluva crazy first day here." Sun remarked. Ruby and Yang had just finished filling Team SSSN in on the details of their time in Atlas over the past forty-eight hours in a cave not too far from where the two groups crossed paths, in another of Qrow's "Huntsmen Hidey Holes" as Scarlet had unofficially dubbed it. The group was either huddled around a portable Dust-powered heater for warmth or, in Marron's case, keeping watch for more Grimm at the mouth of the cave.

"Weiss, I'm really sorry that happened to you." Neptune apologized, edging closer to her, only for the duelist to edge away further.

"It's nothing for you to worry about, Neptune." Weiss said, brushing it off. Ruby and Yang, who sat on her other side, exchanged a look knowing the girl was lying through her teeth.

"Weiss, it's okay to let us in you know." Yang spoke up.

"Yeah, you've been pretty distant since the whole thing at the SDC went down." Ruby agreed.

"It's just..." Weiss started. "...I've been trying my hardest since starting at Beacon to show him I can be independent, be strong, without him lording over me every waking hour. After him cutting me out entirely...I don't really know what to do with myself now."

"Weiss..." Blake started.

"And Winter!" Weiss added, raising her voice slightly. "Even she was better to me than my father, and she's not just betraying my trust as her sibling, but all of Remnant! How dare she!"

"Yes, and you have every right to be angry at them." Sage agreed.

"But that's just it! I'm not!" Weiss shouted. "I got my family off my back, all I ever wanted when I decided to not live how my father expected me too! Now, I just...I don't know what to do with myself!"

"Then...who are you angry at?" Scarlet asked.

Weiss finally was able to admit it at this point in the discussion. "I'M ANGRY AT MYSELF!" she roared, pounding a fist on the cave floor, the power of her emotions taking over control of her aura, and forming a glyph under her hand. The power it unleashed was a gust of ice that froze over the heater in the center of them, startling the group, but mostly, startling Weiss at the sight of what she had done. "I...I'm sorr-" she started, tears running down her cheeks before Ruby quickly pulled her partner into a hug, Weiss returning it as she leaned into the reaper's shoulder sobbing.

Watching from the outskirts of the circle as the younger Huntsmen and Huntresses comforted the white-haired girl, Qrow walked towards the mouth of the cave where Marron was surveying their surroundings. "That didn't attract anything, did it?" he asked.

"No. This place doesn't echo much I guess." Marron shrugged, not moving her sights off the mountains around them.

Qrow nodded as he took another swig from his flask. "She's got her friends. She'll be fine." he thought aloud, before another thought crossed his mind. "What about you?"

"How do you mean?" Marron asked, turning to the more seasoned Huntsman.

"Winter was your teammate, right?" Qrow asked. "And that Chains guy Ironwood's men are looking for?"

Marron rubbed her arm uncomfortably. "Chad was our leader back at Beacon. After we graduated, he dropped off the radar after his family back home was killed by Anti-Faunus radicals. I think he joined the Fang to keep it from happening to anyone else, but he's become exactly what he's tried to fight." she remembered. "And as for Winter, she was my best friend. The thought of her actually working with the enemy...it's unheard of for me."

"We'll get some answers to that eventually." Qrow shrugged, looking back at his nieces and their friends, still comforting an inconsolable Weiss. Yang shared a knowing glance with her uncle. After breaking it off, they returned to what they were doing, Qrow taking his sword out and leaning it against the wall. "Go get some rest, Marron. I'll take the next watch." he volunteered.

"If you say so." The Arc nodded, retreating back into the cave as Qrow took her place.

* * *

"...Yes, Commissioner. Please do contact me if you get any new developments." Silbern nodded as he hung up the phone in his study, turning back in his desk chair to the smaller desk his long time butler sat at with a blank piece of paper and caligraphy pen in hand. "Pardon that interruption, Buxton. Are you ready to begin?" he asked the elderly servant.

"Of course, Master Silbern." Buxton complied as he brought the tip of the pen into an ink well for the words he was prepared to write.

"Put everything down from this point on:" Silbern ordered as he began, Buxton keeping in time with the audible scribbling of the pen's tip on parchment.

"I, Silbern Schnee, do declare that after I pass on from this life, my possessions, ranging from monetary assets, physical possessions, and estates and real estate under the Schnee Family name, will be handed down to the sole proprietor of my fortune: my eldest daughter, Winter Schnee." He paused to allow Buxton the time to catch up. "In conjunction, should Winter Schnee attempt to share these inheritances with her biological sister, Weiss, she will have them revoked and spread across the following board members:..."

He pauses again, this time, not to allow his butler the chance to catch up, but at the notice that Buxton has stopped writing altogether after the mention of Weiss' name. "Is something the matter, Buxton?"

Buxton places the pen down as he turns to the businessman. "May I speak freely to you, Master Silbern?" he asks.

"I believe you've earned the right. You may." Silbern nodded, gesturing for him to go on.

"Thank you." Buxton nodded before continuing. "Sir, I have served your family faithfully these odd fifty or so years. I remember fond memories of when you and your brother, Master Niklaus, would play as children do, as the joyous days of the births of your daughters."

"Daughter, Buxton." Silbern corrected. "There is only one."

"Despite the events from this afternoon, you cannot deny she exists, and that you are the one who had sired her." Buxton reasoned.

Silbern narrowed his eyes at the comment. "What are you getting at, Buxton?" he asked.

"All I ask is do you believe writing Miss Weiss completely out of your will and testaments will solve any problem?" Buxton asked, trying to get his employer to try and find a second thought about his decision earlier today.

Silbern lets out a long sigh. "Weiss had brought enough shame in her lifetime to my family's name. Today's embarrassment was the last straw, and it will take more than trying to spark some empathy in me to change my mind." he explains.

"Even I can admit times have changed, Master Silbern." Buxton said. "Why, I remember a time when I was a youth that Faunus couldn't even set foot in a Huntsman Academy anywhere in Remnant, let alone openly identify them self as one."

"That's different, Buxton." Silbern growled, beginning to become agitated.

"And I also recall a time when your skills with glyphs wasn't far off from Weiss' current level when you were her age-"

"Enough!" Silbern snapped, slapping the top of his desk with an open palm to stop the belittling of his decision. "Buxton, you may retire for the evening. I will complete this myself."

Silently complying, Buxton stood up from the desk and left the study, leaving Silbern to his own devices as the butler began to close the door, nearly startling himself as he noticed someone standing on the other side of it.

"Oh! Miss Winter, you surprised me." Buxton apologized, almost walking into the older girl.

"My apologies, Buxton." Winter said in return. "I...couldn't help but overhear from down the hall." she then admitted.

"Was I really that loud?" Buxton thought aloud before he caught himself. "I apologize for the argument you heard. It's unbecoming of a butler to say such things to his employer."

"No, it's not my concern." Winter countered. "In fact...I think you made a good point." she said, surprising the long time servant to her family.

Deciding not to question it, Buxton nodded in thanks at the comment. "Thank you, Miss Winter. Will you be needing anything else? Your father has retired me for the evening." he offered.

"Just one thing, Buxton." Winter nodded. "You have an extra set of keys to the private Bullhead, correct?"

* * *

A pair of sapphire eyes watched out of Qrow's range of sight as she braced the arctic blasts of icy wind blowing through the mountain pass. The gusts suddenly changed intensity as she felt a steady blowing from behind her, turning to see a large Griffon flying towards her, a black-clad form on its back as it landed and let out a squak in front of Violet, who pulled down her hood as she approached the Grimm and its passenger crawled off its back.

"Father. I was not expecting to see you before I arrived at the tomb." Violet nodded, greeting her father.

"I decided to take it upon myself to meet you in person for the progress report." October explained.

"They're waiting out the night in that cave below us." she reported, gesturing to it as October looked over the cliff.

"I see." he nodded. "We're on a tight schedule. The White Fang is edging to get going. If this is to work, we need to have those Huntresses there before they arrive."

"Am I right in assuming you have a solution to displace them and get them moving again?" Violet asked.

"Yes." Her father nodded, placing a hand to the ground behind them as a glowing black image of an eye appeared on the snow below their feet. From it, a puddle of black ooze formed as he backed away from the ever growing pool. A second later, three Nevermores, each the size of a small plane, flew out from the pool, one of them letting out a loud screech that awoke any of Team RWBY and SSSN sleeping inside, as well as alerting Marron and Qrow.

"We've got company!" Qrow announced, extending his sword's blade. Rising to their feet, the younger group of Huntsmen and Huntresses gathered their belongings and readied their weapons.

"What is it?" Sun asked, running up to his team's chaperoning Huntsman, only to duck back inside the cave as one of the Nevermore wedged its head into the mouth, trying to grab at anyone inside with its beak, letting out another deafening caw as it failed to grab anyone in the first go. Running up, Marron aimed the barrel of Aurum Wing at the gaping beak of the Grimm, letting a round crack off into its gullet to blow the monster out and give them an opening to escape.

"Run! Head to the north!" Qrow ordered, leading them out as they slid down the mountainside.

"What's to the north of here?" Yang asked as she followed him down.

"Old network of mines the SDC used to occupy before they moved operations worldwide." Qrow explained. "That's where we've been headed." He turned back to check on their pursuers, taking note of the other two Nevermore he had previously not noticed. They could barely be seen, their black figures blending with the night sky and snow whipping past them, the icy cold wind blasting each face as they continued down the mountain at a quick pace.

"Neptune! Scarlet! We need somebody holding them off!" Sun ordered his teammates, that wordlessly complied, Neptune taking out his energy rifle and Scarlet his new weapon in the form of a flintlock pistol. The shots did little to deter the beasts as they continued to follow them. Ruby and Yang took the initiative to join them, their weapons being enough to actually get one of the Nevermore getting too close for comfort off their backs as one of Crescent Rose's shots struck through its eye, the body crashing into the snow-covered wall behind them before dissipating into nothingness as all dying Grimm do.

"Nice shot, Sis!" Yang cheered before a new rumbling caught their ears.

"Avalanche!" Sage alerted everyone as a tidal wave of snow started crashing down behind them.

"As if we didn't have enough to deal with!" Neptune complained, looking behind.

"Is that a ravine?" Scarlet asked, looking ahead at a large drop off ahead of them.

"Get ready to jump!" Ruby yelled as she activated her semblance to propel herself over the ravine to the other side. Yang and Marron used the blowback of their weapons to rocket themselves over, Blake and Scarlet using their weapons' grappling hooks to swing across. The rest relied on jumping across on a set of glyphs Weiss used to get across. Just before Weiss made the last jump, she was almost plucked out of thin air by another Nevermore were it not for a slug from Ember Celica punching it in the face, stunning it long enough for Weiss to get over. The Nevermore was not lucky enough to recover in time, and the torrent of ice and snow poured over it and forced it down into the seemingly bottomless ravine below.

"Too close...Blake sighed, catching her breath as she reconfigured Gambol Shroud into its katana form. Everyone took a quick moment to recover as the third Nevermore suddenly came down, landing on the ground behind them as the avalanche dissipated and the last of the falling ice fell into the gap.

"Oh, come on!" Yang sighed as she reloaded her gauntlets.

"Don't worry, Firecracker. We're in the home stretch." Qrow said, looking out ahead of them. Down another snow-covered and steep hill, they could see the outlines of an abandoned rail line going through the mountains on a cliffside. "We just need to make it to that cliff below us." He turned back to face them, only to join them in ducking as the Nevermore swooped over them, missing as it tried to grab one of them.

"Weiss! Can you get a clear shot on it with your ice dust?" Blake asked.

"I need to get closer to do that" Weiss answered, trying to calculate the aim and range she'd need for the perfect shot as she switched Myrtenaster's chamber to use its ice features.

"Let's get you in there then!" Yang smirked as she jumped down the hill, sliding towards the bottom as the Nevermore took notice of her.

"Blake, quick! Bumblebee!" Ruby ordered. Blake threw her half of Gambol Shroud down to the blonde brawler, as she caught it in her left hand, getting ready as the Nevermore began banking right to come back around and go after Yang. With the combined force of sliding down the hill and being swung towards the beast by Blake, she ducked under the flying Grimm as it swooped over her, grabbing the Nevermore by the tail and slamming it into the side of the hill. The stunning of it gave the Huntsmen the time they needed to slide down the hill to the rail line below. As they descended, Ruby and Qrow came up behind the grounded Grimm as Yang was struggling to keep it down with her strength. Sage had joined in trying to pin it down with his bare hands, but even the adding of Weiss launching blasts of ice at its joints couldn't keep it from thrashing about. In order to finally put a stop to the Grimm, Qrow switched his weapon to its scythe feature as Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose. With precision timing, the niece and uncle duo brought a swing of both weapons across the neck of the beast just as they made it to the bottom of the hill, its severed head smashing through an old support beam used to keep snow from the above mountains off the old tracks, weakening its support and causing another avalanche.

"Quick! Into the tunnel!" Qrow yelled as he ran ahead, SSSN, Marron, and Blake already getting inside as Qrow helped lead the others to the tunnel opening. Yang and Ruby had gotten the lead before the younger of the two sisters looked back, Qrow was right behind them, but Weiss had tripped and fallen to the ground.

"Weiss!" Ruby cried as she turned back.

"Ruby!?" Yang called in surprise as her sister suddenly did a 180 and ran back for the heiress. Weiss looked up to call back to her before a chunk of ice from the second avalanche bashed into her head, knocking her out. Not wasting a second, Ruby picked up Weiss in the knick of time just as they started running back, a crashing wall of ice, snow and rock right on their heels as they made a diving leap for the tunnel.

"WEISS! RUBY!"

* * *

 **CLIFFHANGER!**

 **I'm sorry for cutting it there, but I just had to get one more out before I head out from Boston to Austin tomorrow. Who else is as hyped for RTX as I am? I don't have much else to say besides that, so please follow this story if you enjoy it, leave a comment because I love feedback and read all my comments, and I'll see you lads and lasses next time!**


	16. The Chess Initiative

A shrill cry, for the twelfth time that night alone, roused a very obviously tired Jaune Arc.

"OH COME ON!" he cried out in frustration and exhaustion. He had finally just gotten back to sleep at four in the morning after Thorn's 3:30 emergency diaper change. He only drank one bottle of formula earlier that night. How could he have made such a mess? "No wonder Ruby called you the 'thorn in her side' when she was-"

"UNCLE JAUNEY! HELP!"

Jaune suddenly ceased his muttering at the sound of Emre's shout. Apparently, this wasn't just a normal rude awakening for the infant as he rushed across the hall, ignoring a tired Ren asking what was going on as he sat up at the sound of screaming children.

Running into the room, he forced the door open to see Emre trying to shoo off an owl that had flew in an open window, and was frantically trying to find its way back out, but kept knocking items off dressers and shelves from books to picture frames. Zwei was trying to assist the toddler by barking at the bird, but this owl didn't seem phased by a small child in bunny footsie pajamas and a Corgi trying to make it go away. "What is going on in here?" Jaune asked in surprise, this being a much more tame situation than what he thought after hearing his nephew call for him.

"Birdy fwy in and scawe Thown! Bad birdy! Go away!" Emre yelled at the owl, that just squaked and landed atop the bedpost of Blake and Yang's bunk.

"Okay, you need to leave, now!" Jaune said as he charged the bird, startling it as it swooped over his head, brushed Nora's nose as she followed her leader with its wing as it banked back out the window and back into the night. "I thought those things were supposed to be wise." he grumbled to himself.

"How'd an owl even get in here?" Nora yawned as she walked over and closed the window.

"How'd what get in where now?" Ren asked, poking his head into the dorm.

"Not important. Let's just get this cleaned up and put the kids back to sleep." Jaune ordered. "Speaking of which, Nora, do you mind?" he asked as he gestured to Thorn's bassinet, where the full blown quieting turned into whimpering with a few sobs in between.

"Sure thing." Nora shrugged, too tired to argue as she picked up Thorn and gently started trying to rock him back to sleep. It almost seemed out of character for the usually hyperactive redhead. "Shh...it's okay. Auntie Nora's here to keep the big bad bird away." she cooed in a singsong voice.

"Ren, can you go grab a broom and dustpan?" Jaune asked, looking around at the feathers on the floor, not to mention broken glass from the picture frame that fell over. Picking it up, he noticed what it was. This was a framed photo from a month ago, when they took Thorn home from the hospital. Ruby was sitting in a wheelchair as she was being discharged, Thorn in a bundle in her arms. Weiss was kneeling by her left side, Taiyang and Raven on her right, while Yang had an arm wrapped around Blake with her other hand on the back handles of her sister's chair. Each of them were smiling to various degrees from Yang's toothy grin to a slight smirk on Blake's face. Weiss on the other hand, was not...or at least not anymore. The shattered glass had punctured the picture and poked a hole straight through Weiss' face and neck, somewhat spreading to Ruby's side as well. Something about that tear in the photograph gave the knight an uneasy feeling as he stared at it.

"Jaune, is something wrong?" Pyrrha asked, peeking in for the first time and staying quiet as to not reawaken the now sleeping Thorn.

"It's probably nothing...but I need to speak with Professor Goodwitch first thing in the morning." Jaune replied.

* * *

A headache and darkness was what welcomed her as she awoke, hesitating to open her eyes just yet. Once she did open them, the harsh light of the lamps in this room's ceiling. She also found she had been laying on a cot that was much comfier compared to the lumpy mattress at the motel or her sleeping bag during their short stay in the ice caves with Team SSSN.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Ice Queen."

She sat up at the sound of a familiar voice, not one that belonged to her team, Neptune's team, or either of their chaperones. She tilted her head upwards until the dark skinned face of the Beacon upperclassman, Turk Oys, met her gaze with a soft smile.

"Turk?" she croaked before clearing her throat. "What are you doing here?"

Turk's features fell to a face of embarrassment. "Oh, uh...I don't know if I'm allowed to tell you-"

"Turk, zey came vith Qrow. I think zey can know."

She craned her head around the teal-haired medic to see his towering albino of a team leader, Snow, leaning against the wall behind him by some empty cots and a medicine cabinet. "If you say so, Snow." Turk shrugged. "To be honest, we weren't expecting to see you waking up, Weiss." he went on to admit. "We just came to grab some painkillers for Ruby."

Weiss gasped as she shot up into a sitting position. She had completely forgotten about the others through the haze of waking up. "Ruby? What happened to her?" she asked.

"Relax. She's okay; just sprained her wrist saving you from the avalanche earlier. Nothing a couple aspirin and a few hours of natural healing with aura can't fix." Turk explained to put her at ease, which he could tell worked as he noticed the duelist let out a sigh of relief. "That hit on the head knocked you unconscious for a couple hours as of now. What's worrying me more is that cut below your eye. I put some antibiotic ointment on it, but there's no guarantee-"

"It'll scar. I know." Weiss sighed. Turk backed off; the elephant in the room didn't need anymore addressing. "I just want to see my team."

"Of course." Snow nodded as the younger girl got up from the bed and made her way to the exit. As she opened the door, she took in her surroundings, or better yet, lack there of. The hallway she entered was a droll grey color from the ceiling to the floor with no windows, and a multitude of security cameras that seemed to be focused on all angles of the hall outside the medical bay she was inside. What more she was confused by was the two Atlesian military policemen escorting a hulking, bald-headed man in an orange jumpsuit past them.

"Huh, didn't know it was Jailbait Visitors Day." he dryly joked as he walked within earshot of her.

"Shut it until we get to the warden's office." one of the guards ordered. Weiss shared in his distaste for the inmate's joke. The man reminded her too much of Timber.

"What even is this place?" Weiss asked the two upperclassmen as they walked the way the prisoner escort came from.

"Platinum Maximum Security Prison." Snow explained. "Qrow and the others brought you here after escaping the avalanche. Zere's an emergency door inside the tunnel you made a break for."

"Although, it's kinda out of commission after the avalanche." Turk shrugged.

"But...why did he bring us here? And what did you mean back in the infirmary, Snow?"

The albino was about to answer before the sound of running footsteps from around a corner. Weiss turned just in time for Ruby to catch her off guard in a hug that nearly took them both to the ground. "Weiss!" she exclaimed. "We're so glad you're okay!"

"Ruby, easy on your hand, remember?" Yang reminded, bringing up the rear as her half sister stood back up, Turk giving her the painkillers he had promised. "How ya feelin', Ice Queen?"

"I've been better." Weiss shrugged, ignoring the nickname she had always hated. "What are we doing here?"

"Uncle Qrow said he had a contact here that could help us clear our names in Atlas." Ruby answered after swallowing the pills. "He was about to take us in to meet them."

"Yeah, come on. The others have been waiting for us down the hall." Yang said, gesturing for the others to follow her back down the way she and Ruby came from. As they followed, Weiss noted from the signs painted on the dully-colored walls that they were headed further away from the administration offices, and more towards the cell blocks.

"Yang, where are we headed?" she finally asked, just before they rounded a corner where the rest were waiting for them. Blake, Qrow, Marron, and Team SSSN stood beside a door marked "Restricted Access" alongside Rocco and Mei to balance out the rest of Team STRM.

"Alright, the gang's all here." Rocco smirked as they all regrouped.

"How're you feeling, Weiss?" Blake asked, the raven-haired Faunus stepping forward.

"Confused, at the moment." Weiss answered, looking at Qrow. "Where's your contact? What are we doing here?"

"Yeah. I feel like we're just getting a tour of a prison." Sun agreed.

"If you'll give me a second, I'll explain everything." Qrow announced as he turned to a keypad on the door. "Let's see..." he muttered before punching in the code. "Two, four, three, seven...seven! Right!" he cheered lightly, congratulating himself on remembering it, at least this time. He stepped back as the door opened automatically, revealing the natural walls of the cliff caverns this prison was built into, as well as the shiver-inducing chill of the arctic winds blowing through the caves through natural vents. Qrow led them down the hall, only wide enough for two people to stand side by side as they went through.

"What all you guys and girls are gonna see is completely classified, you hear me?" Qrow called back to the others.'

"Yeah, but...what are we gonna see?" Neptune asked. His query was answered as they entered the main cavern. The giant cave was the size of a stadium, permafrost creeping up the towering walls to the ceiling lined with naturally grown ice Dust crystals. The main feature wasn't the dozens of Atlesian soldiers moving around crates and computer equipment between marked areas and stations on platforms, or the chasm on one half of the room that the group could only guess led to the center of the planet, but the massive, energy-shielded cage keeping the contents safely locked inside. The group of second years were shocked and awed at the beast inside, or was it an anomaly?

The cage held something that Team RWBY thought they would only see once in their lives. The shadowy outline of an Ursa, tall as a skyscraper, but hunched over inside the confined space it was kept in, could be seen through the shield walls. It reminded the group of the day they retook Vale from Cinder, fighting the Alpha Grimm that was materializing out of its tomb underneath the city, and one of the most challenging battles they had ever fought in their short careers as Huntsmen and Huntresses. "I-Is that?" Ruby stammered, looking up at it.

"An Alpha Grimm." Qrow finished for his niece. "Yes it is." He paused to turn to the group. "Since the attack in Vale almost caused a breach that let one of these beasts fall into the wrong hands, we've been upping security at the known locations of the remaining two vaults."

"Two?" Yang asked. "I thought one was in each kingdom. Wouldn't there be three?"

"Mistral's was empty when we found it." Qrow said, looking down. "Whether it was killed or taken somewhere we can't find, we're still unsure, but the point being, this guy and his sibling in Vacuo are under much tighter security now. We've even begun reaching out to Huntsmen academies for advanced students to help with security rounds, clearing out any Grimm that get too close for comfort, pretty much freelance security work."

"And that, is where we came in." Mei spoke up.

"Wait, why not us?" Blake asked.

"Yeah! We were the ones that beat one of those things." Ruby added. "We should be able to join...whatever this is."

"What even is this, Qrow?" Marron asked.

"We were going to wait until you were all back at 100%, or more specifically, until your son was born, Ruby." Qrow answered. "STRM here, along with some more Beacon teams like CFVY and SABR, have already filled some time here." He paused to take a few steps back, gesturing to one of the elevated stations. "This is the Chess Initiative."

"The Chess Iniative?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, and congratulations." a voice from the station Qrow stood in front of called. Stepping into view, Weiss couldn't believe her eyes as an older woman easily six feet in stature, marched over to the railing. Tired, silver eyes with shoulder length, stark white hair matched asmile with platinum-glossed lips. She wore the uniform of an Atlas military officer, a long white coat that reached down past her knees, and a chromatic broach with a sapphire centerpiece worn around her neck. Weiss almost teared up at the sight of her. "It's an honor to be working alongside my daughter again."

"M-Mother..." Weiss gasped.


	17. Family Reunion

**Last time on RWBY: Broken Home...**

 **"You want my frickin' badge number?!" Sun roared from across the interrogation room table as he reached into his pocket. "HERE! HERE'S MY FRICKIN' BADGE NUMBER!" Only instead of a badge, it was a five-finger sandwich across the suspect's face.**

 **/**

 **"Nora, I don't understand..." Ren said in disbelief.**

 **"What's to understand?!" she sobbed. "I was unfaithful! The baby isn't yours! It's Pyrrha's!"**

 **"Yes. That. That's the part I don't understand." Ren pointed out, once again, that what his wife was talking about something scientifically impossible.**

 **/**

 **Port gasped as he backed away from the microscope in front of him, sweat furrowing on his brow. "It's evolving too fast...There's no chance of stopping this virus..." he gasped in hopeless realization.**

 **/**

 **Emerald wept hysterically over Cinder's corpse on the apartment floor, a pool of blood around her body. "W-W-WHO DID THIS TO YOU?" she shrieked as her body was wracked with another wave of sobbing.**

 **/**

 **"...Which is why, after careful consideration..." Blake paused for dramatic effect. "...that I have decided to accept being traded from the Minnesota Vikings to the Houston Texans." she finished, a cacophony of reporters asking questions and cameras flashing all throughout the conference room.**

 **/**

 **"M-Mother..." Weiss gasped at the female Atlesian officer standing in front of her.**

 **/**

 **Now, only one of those really happened, but they were really dramatic pictured in your head, right? I apologize for the lack of an author's note last time, but I didn't really have much to say after that reveal.**

 **Also, it was late when I finished it, and a tired version of me forgot about it.**

 **But anyways, yes. This chapter, you will be meeting Weiss' mother, a high profile member of the Atlesian Military known as General Noel Chrom. Now, alot of writers who profiled Weiss' mother have showcased her in a multitude of ways: passed away of a fatal disease when Weiss was young, the real sadistic mastermind of the SDC who was very disapproving of the White Rose couple getting hitched, or your average stereotypical depiction of a 1950's upperclass wife. I've chosen to go none of those routes.**

 **After making Weiss' uncle, General Niklaus Schnee, a high general, I figured "Hey, what if Weiss' mother's side was a military family?" The Schnees already have glyph knowledge down, but Weiss' swordsmanship and tactical knowledge make her a very skilled Huntress. Who could she get that from? Mom. That's who.**

 **Noel Chrom was an Atlas native in the officer's training program with Niklaus, and the fellow officer introduced her to his brother, Silbern, after they graduated. The two eventually dated before marrying, followed by the birth of Winter and Weiss. After being away from the military for so long following her maternity leave and raising them past toddler age, the White Fang struck the SDC hard with terror attacks and assassinations. She couldn't handle Silbern being so angry about these terrorists all the time coupled with the stress of being a high-ranking officer, so in a tough decision, she decided to leave him and take their daughters with her. Silbern fought this in the divorce and ended up winning custody so he could groom them into becoming the heirs of his dust empire, but did not forsee both of them electing to become Huntresses instead, or Winter taking part time work in Atlas as a Huntress for high-profile assignments either. Still, because of this and the ludicrous visiting schedule Silbern's lawyers worked out with the judge in a shady deal, Noel has barely seen her children since the divorce. After Winter graduated Beacon, she started seeing her mother more often, eventually leading to-**

 **Oh yeah, haven't started the chapter yet. I can't give that out! Well then, read on, fellow reader. Leave a follow and comment if you enjoy it, I read all of my comments, (I really do. By the way Spartan5271, nice guess but no, I'm not Barbara Dunkleman.) and I will see you lads and lasses in the next chapter.**

* * *

The duelist dashed out from the crowd as the older lady began to meet her daughter halfway, stepping down the stairs as she embraced a now crying Weiss, tears of joy replacing ones of sadness or frustration for the first time in two days. "I'm so happy to see you again, Mom..." Weiss sobbed into her chest, as her mother brushed a hand through her youngest's hair.

"It's a dream come true to see you as well, my little Snow Angel." she whispered in return.

"I thought I was the first to think of that." Neptune muttered before an elbow from Yang shut him up.

"Don't ruin the moment, Dreamboat." she quipped as Qrow spoke up again.

"I see Weiss is already familiar with her, but..." he said turning back to the others. "...for those of you who don't, this is the head of the Chess Initiative: General Noel Schnee."

"It's Noel 'Chrom' now, Qrow." Noel corrected, breaking the hug she and Weiss had shared as the daughter dried her eyes. "I finally changed back to my maiden name. It's high time I severed all connection with that blowhard, Silbern."

"Yeah...we kinda can see why after meeting him." Ruby spoke up, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly.

"That bad, hmm?" Noel asked, looking down at her daughter. "And Weiss, I'm assuming this is your team?" she continued.

"Y-yes." Weiss stuttered, quickly trying to regain her composure. "That's my leader, Ruby, her sister, Yang, and our friend, Blake." she said, introducing each of them as they returned a wave or a nod in the general's direction. "The guys are Sun and his team."

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you." Noel greeted, bowing respectively to the younger Huntsmen and Huntresses. "I read the briefing documents about all of your accomplishments in Vale, and I am very impressed with all of you."

"That's very nice of you to say Ms. Schnee." Ruby smiled before catching herself. "Oh, I mean Ms. Chrom! Or...Uh, Ms. Weiss' Mom?"

"See, Turk? You didn't have the worst first impression with the general!" Rocco joked, only to be elbowed by his team leader to shut up.

"You may just call me Noel." she replied to the reaper, waiving off the younger one's embarrassment. "We're a bit less strict than the main branches of the military."

"Wait, so, are we getting shanghaied into the army or something?" Scarlet asked.

"No such luck, kid." Qrow spoke up. "Huntsmen and the military are labeling this a joint effort, especially after the events in Vale. Not only do we help guard the tombs, but also track down and neutralize anyone that could be a threat."

"Otherwise known as people like October Fall." Marron added.

"Precisely." Qrow nodded.

"Wait, October Fall? Like, as in Cinder Fall?" Sun asked.

"Yes." Noel nodded. "We received intel that Cinder's father, October, was the true mastermind behind the attack on Vale, his daughter commanding the effort put in by the White Fang to take over the city and release the Alpha Grimm underneath."

"And we have reason to believe that the escape of Chad Aens earlier this week was the start of something for the Falls." Qrow added.

"How can we be sure?" Blake asked. "Chains was a brute in the White Fang. He could've easily gotten out on his own."

"We got this intel from a source we planted with connections to the Falls." Noel answered. "They'd be more than welcome to explain if you'd just follow me." Leaving Teams STRM and SSSN to talk, she lead the group including Team RWBY, Marron and Qrow back the way she came, up the stairs to a platform covered in console stations with features ranging from readings of the Alpha Grimm's cage to radar readings from outside the base. They stopped at a door, built into a small cavern branching off the main one they stood in, marked "Meeting Room". Upon opening the door, Noel entered first, followed by Weiss before she stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of the one waiting for them. "YOU!" she exclaimed.

"Hello, Sister." Winter greeted. "I believe we need to discuss something."

Weiss didn't give her the chance to begin her discussion as she dashed forward, Myrtenaster pointed at her throat for a killing blow. "Weiss, stop!" Noel ordered, but her youngest did not stop. At least on her own accord.

At a hair's width away from her neck, Winter stopped Weiss in her tracks with a time dilation glyph that froze her sister where she stood. While Weiss still wore a facial expression of anger, Winter remained emotionless as she held her sister in limbo, the rest hesitating of RWBY hesitating, but still keeping hands on their weapons. Winter looked around her sister to the other side of the conference table. "Could someone disarm her so I can say my piece?" she asked.

"And why should we believe you?" Marron asked stepping forward.

"Because if I was really working for the Falls, I wouldn't be here to talk." Winter answered.

Sharing a glance with the others, she stepped forward, getting up on the table and easing the rapier out of Weiss' grasp. She looked at the younger sister, whose eyes gave her a pleading glance not to do this. "Weiss, if this is a trick, she has nowhere to go." Marron explained. "I know what I'm doing here."

Weiss averted her eyes, unable to nod in her frozen state as the chaperoning Huntress placed Myrtenaster on the table by her side.

"Thank you, Marron." Winter nodded, ignoring the eye-roll her former teammate gave in place of a response. With that taken care of, she sat down in one of the cushioned chairs around the conference table. The second she leaned back into a comfortable position in the chair, the glyph Weiss was held in place by faded, time for her returning to normal as she stumbled to a stop at the edge of the table. "Now, Weiss, I believe I owe you and your team an apology." her sister began to explain.

"Apologize for what? Fighting us? Getting Father to kick us out of Atlas? Getting myself disowned from the family?" Weiss criticized, moving closer to the point she loomed over her older sister.

"Winter, is this all true?" Noel asked her oldest daughter.

"Unfortunately..." Winter began, a look of disapproval casting over their mother's face. "It was my only option. I was almost compromised before I could explain to them."

"Explain what?" Ruby asked.

"When you approached me back at the company headquarters, you weren't wrong, Miss Rose." Winter admitted. "I am acting as an informant for October Fall."

"I knew it!" Weiss started, reaching for Myrtenaster before Yang caught her arm before she could get a hold of her weapon.

"However, up until you tried to arrest me, I couldn't tell you I'm also sending information to the Chess Initiative about his plans." Winter continued, once again ignoring the rude interruption.

The rest of Team RWBY looked among each other, surprised by this new development. "So...you're a double agent?" Blake asked.

"She is." Noel answered. "I introduced her to the initiative not long after we were given permission by the Atlesian Council to start recruiting Huntsmen from outside the kingdom."

"After we received a tip about Cinder Fall being spotted in Atlas, I was sent to try and apprehend her. She's been missing since being expelled from Signal Academy almost ten years ago. When I made contact with her, she and Emerald Sustrai were attempting to recruit Marcus Black, the disgraced police captain. Knowing Mercury was the muscle of Cinder's operation, he was his father's replacement after his murder."

"That doesn't explain how you got roped in with them." the younger of the two sisters noted.

"I was compromised. In order to spare my life, I bargained with them by offering a shipment of our new Paladin mechs and news of Dust shipments for their plan. I forged some, of course, so that not all of our product was lost in their heists. In return, they put me in contact with October Fall for their plan for Atlas' tomb. There were some setbacks as we underestimated how long it would take to find the tomb under Vale, not to mention Cinder's defeat, yet we've adapted to each development Doctor Fall sent me." Winter answered.

"The only thing she hasn't disclosed is our location. He still believes it's in a cave system miles further into this mountain range." Noel added. "If he does come this way, he'll bypass us, and we'll capture him from behind."

Winter turned back to Marron and the rest of Team RWBY. "I'm sorry I couldn't explain back there, but, you must understand that I had to protect this secret from both the public and from the Falls." she apologized once again.

"No, now that we understand, I think we owe you the apology for attacking you." Ruby replied, slightly grinning.

"That and the property damage..." Yang muttered.

"Miss Rose, I will be the one to take the blame in this case." Winter said, dismissing the short brunette teen's remark before turning to her sister. "And Weiss, I think I owe you the biggest apology."

"For what?" Weiss huffed. It was obvious out of the many in the room, she was the least understanding of Winter's public apology.

"For not defending you from Father." Winter finished.

"Oh! So you decide to do that now? Not just after these past two days, but for all this time?" Weiss criticized.

"Weiss..." Blake spoke up, trying to calm the duelist down.

"No, Blake! You know I'm not the one in the wrong here, right? You saw what happened back at the company headquarters, back during dinner. She didn't even make the effort to speak out against him!" she cried out, turning back to her older sibling. "Give me one good reason to believe you, because right now, everything you just said sounds like an excuse to me!"

Winter just stood there in a somewhat stunned silence for a moment before she bowed her head. "You want proof? Fine." she said calmly, reaching into her pants pocket. When she pulled her hand back out from it, Weiss looked inquisitively at the minuscule trinket Winter had produced. It looked like a crude, homemade bracelet made of plastic beads and twisted paper clips around a string. It looked as if a child had made it, which wouldn't be incorrect to say. "I've held onto this since you made it back when we were young." Winter explained.

Weiss' eyes widened as the memories came back to her. "Wait a minute, I remember this bracelet..." she realized out loud. This craft was a gift she made Winter back when the elder sister was furious with her for spilling juice on her best ballroom dress just before her fourteenth birthday. "But...you rejected it. I saw you throw it out." Weiss assumed.

"I'll admit, I was still pretty upset with you back then." Winter recalled. "You kept trying to find ways to apologize for weeks from offering this to inviting me outside to play in the snow, but like the ridiculous teen I once was, I wouldn't drop the grudge. It took that day that intruder broke into my room to realize what a fool I was being."

* * *

 **Ten years ago...**

"Weiss? Weiss!" Winter shouted as she tried to struggle her way out of the intruder's grasp. Her sister still stuck in a thousand-yard stare.

"What luck!" the intruder exclaimed as he grinned wickedly under his mask. "Two Schnee brats! The price the White Fang have on just one of your heads would make me a rich man!" he cackled, pulling a snub-nosed revolver from his waistband, pointing it at the younger daughter to both girls' horror. Weiss was still to scared to move as he lined up his shot. It was a matter of a split second before he would pull the trigger.

"NO!" Winter screamed as she bit down on the hand holding his gun. The gunman howled in pain as her teeth sunk into his hand, the weapon firing off a shot with a loud crack that missed Weiss' head by a matter of inches, hitting the wall behind her instead. As the weapon fell from his grasp and clattered to the bedroom floor, Weiss suddenly found her voice and shrieked in terror as the intruder used a sharp knee to drive Winter to her knees, before a sucker punch to the right side of her face knocked her to the floor.

"Gah, you little bitch!" he cursed, looking at the bite mark on his hand, which was deep enough to draw blood. Winter could only growl in response as she tried to crawl to her feet before, once again, she was forced against the floor as he planted a boot on her back. "You get to die first for that!" he snarled, picking up his weapon. "This is what you Schnee's get for treating my people like dirt! Long live the White Fa-"

He never finished the exclamation , or fired off another round at either of the girls as two shots rang out. Winter suddenly felt the weight of his foot leave her back as a thud behind her resonated throughout the room. "What?" she asked as she looked up to see her father and some of the family guards in the hall. One of her father's bodyguards held a smoking pistol up as he eased into the room. The would-be killer lay behind her with two gunshot wounds to his right shoulder and abdomen, groaning in pain as Winter rose to her feet.

"Miss Winter! Are you alright?" the bodyguard asked as another guard stormed in, disarming the ruffian of his weapon and putting some handcuffs on him.

"I'm okay.." Winter said, wiping the trickle of blood from her lip as her father walked in next, Weiss peaking from behind his leg as she crept in behind her. "Weiss? Are you-"

Before she could ask, the dam broke, and Weiss began bawling as she shot around their father and leapt into Winter's arms, a gesture Winter returned as she embraced her crying younger sister.

"I-I-I'm so happy y-you're okay!" Weiss choked out between bouts of crying. "T-That w-w-was so scary!"

"I'm okay? Y-You're the one who got shot at!" Winter stuttered, her eyes beginning to water.

"Y-you're not mad, a-are you?" Weiss asked, looking up at her sister.

Winter bit her lip. In that moment, she embraced Weiss harder, kissing her sister's forehead. "Not anymore. I'm just happy we're both alright."

Silbern shifted his eyes from his girls to the guard dragging the intruder from the room. "You. What's your name again?"

"Morrison, sir." the guard who took the shots answered.

"Mister Morrison, thank you for keeping my daughters safe." the business tycoon said with a grateful smile. "I know it's your first week here, but come to my office once you're done getting this filth to the authorities. I have a position I'd like you to fill."

With a thank you and a nod, Morrison left the room with the other bodyguard. and Silbern joined his girls in their family hug, tears dripping down both his daughter's faces.

* * *

 **Present Day**

Weiss's eyes began watering as she remembered that day. For the longest time, she relived it in vivid detail as a nightmare, but the reminder of the tender moment she shared with her family that day would help it become a good memory.

"I made a secret vow to myself not to let anyone hurt you after that day." Winter continued. "I've broken that vow on occasion because I wasn't there for you, and for that, you've been hurt time and time again. This time, you were right in front of me, and in order to keep this organization a secret, I forgot it again. Because of me, you're scarred once more..." she cursed herself as her younger sister noticed her arm beginning to tremble. "Because of me, Father disowned you."

"Winter..." Weiss spoke up, clasoing her hands around Winter's outstretched one, holding her charm. Not knowing what to say, she brought Winter close into a hug. "I'm not mad now. I'm just happy you told me the truth."

Winter was confused for a second, no matter how happy her sister was no longer angry at her. "But Weiss, it was my fault..."

"No, it wasn't. I know that now." Weiss snapped, cutting her off. "Sure, we fought. Father was the one who caused my scar to get bigger. He's the one who disowned me; not you. You've already apologized enough for not telling me sooner, but you don't need to apologize for something out of your control."

Winter wiped some wetness away from her eyes as Weiss spoke. "I do suppose I should have." she admitted. "So, is there any way you can find it in your hearts to forgive me?" she asked again, looking between Weiss and her team.

"I suppose I can..." Blake spoke up first.

"Me too." Yang nodded, hesitantly but her response being genuine.

"Same here!" Ruby eagerly replied.

Marron just simply glared down her former teammate, making the older Schnee sister feel uneasy until the Arc broke out into a grin. "Oh come on, Winter! You think I can't tell when you're being truthful? Of course I forgive you, partner!"

With a sigh of relief, Winter shook her head at her old friend's unconventional response in amusement. "How could I forget, Marron?" she smiled, breaking off her hug with Weiss.

"You did bring up a good point though, Winter." Blake noted, turning to Noel. "If we were supposed to join you, why not tell us when we confronted her?"

"Well, like she said, I may have jumped the gun and instigated the fight before she could..." Weiss admitted.

"But other than that, the Chess Initiative is a top secret joint operations task force for both Huntsmen and the military." Noel explained. "Only high ranking officers such as generals, as well as select Huntsmen and Huntresses know of its existence."

"After word got out about the Alpha Grimm in Vale during the restoration effort, concern spread through the other kingdoms like wildfire." Qrow added. "All this worry if another big bad Grimm breaking out of its cage and ransacking civilization added to a world already scared of the littler beasts they control."

"And if people knew about this coalition, that would make it all the more easy for those that want to harness the Alpha Grimm's powers to find us and attempt to free them for their abilities."

"Abilities?" Yang asked.

"It's only been hypothesized, but there's a chance if someone can absorb an Alpha Grimm's energy rather than bring the Grimm under their control, it can give them a dark power unlike anything you could imagine." Qrow explained. "The only way to do so is through sacrifice, like how you saw under Vale with Ironwood and your dad."

"Then...how can we help?" Ruby asked.

"You and Team SSSN already are, Miss Rose." Noel explained. "Not only have you defeated the Vale Alpha Grimm and kept it out of October's hand, but your work fighting Grimm and saving lives is already doing a great deal of good."

"While you were hanging around in Atlas, I was watching your boy toys as they cleared out a pocket of Grimm massing too close for comfort near here." Qrow explained.

"We guessed. You ran us into their operation, remember?" Marron reminded the drunkard.

"Either way, you've done your jobs well." Noel nodded. "I'll arrange for transportation for you back to Beacon by tomorrow. In the meantime, you can rest up at-"

She stopped herself as a beeping from the closed door behind them. Opening it, the general came face to face with Snow. "Mister Whitmore?" she asked.

"Sorry for the interruption, General, but ve have an issue."

* * *

Outside the prison, a lone guard at the first checkpoint yawned into his hand as he lounged in the seat of his small office in the security checkpoint to the prison's front gate. His shift was the loneliest and most boring, and the guard change wasn't happening until sunrise, or whatever time it would become light out. He couldn't see a damn thing through the snow whipping around in the wind of the storm around them. His attention was met when a warning beep came on his computer terminal. Looking it over, the radar screen showed multiple white dots, indicating unidentifiable objects were coming head on. With the gusts of wind and snow masking all visibility and sound, he stepped out of his checkpoint station, hand on his rifle as he tried to see or hear what was coming. He didn't see much as a sharp, cold spike was driven through his visor, then through his head. As his body slumped to the ground, a woman in a blue cloak slowly walked into view of the checkpoint, pulling her hood down as she pulled out a Scroll.

"Chains, begin the assault." Violet ordered.

"Copy that." the Faunus brute answered as a dozen Bullheads flew overhead into the prison. She grinned as alarms started going off and the chainguns of the dropships began laying down fire into the facility.

"This is going exactly as planned." she mused as she began to casually saunter through the front gate.


	18. Prison Break

**Those of you who put money on the fact that Winter was the spy, I'll take my winnings now.**

 **Now with that joke out of the way, I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter, as well as my recent updates (at least of the night I began writing this) on The Smell of NAPM and A Rose's Last Bloom. I've been getting out of a bad case of writer's block I've been fighting since a week after RTX ended with my other two stories, as well as fleshing out ideas for future ones when I should stay focused on the incomplete three I already have, and want to get at least one more update done before school starts back up again for me. So if all goes to plan, this should be out within a week of the beginning of this typing session.**

 **Once more, if this is your first time checking out this fic, why are you starting reading it halfway through? Seriously though, if you like what you read, give this a follow, favorite or comment which I read all of, and I will see you lads and lasses next time.**

* * *

The sound of alarms blaring was heard throughout the facility as two guards escorted their prisoner back to his cell after a long day at the courthouse. "So, uh, what's with the fire drill?" Mercury quipped as he was lead into the solitary confinement facility, where he would be staying until his trial was finished.

"That's for us to worry about, Black. Eyes front." the guard on his left ordered, tapping him on the back of his neck with a nightstick. The silver-haired young man stayed silent as he was uncuffed and placed into his cell. "And stay in there."

"Like I was going anywhere to begin with." Mercury said with a roll of his eyes, stepping towards his bunk as the guards backed away from the door.

"Close Cell 636!" one of them yelled, waiting for the door to shut, which it did not. "I said, close Cell 636!" Once again, nothing. In response, the corrections officer turned to his communicator on his shoulder. "Brown, did you go on break without notification again?" he asked into it.

"Warning: Opening all cell doors. Prisoners stand back as doors open." a computerized voice announced. On cue, all sixty-four doors in the solitary bock opened, a collection of thieves, anarchists, and murderers stepping out from them at the thought of unprecedented freedom.

"What? Brown, what are you doing? Close the doors!" the other guard shouted as the dangerous prisoners, save for a confused Mercury Black.

"Brown isn't here anymore." Chains voice responded over the intercom. Mercury's eyes widened as he recognized who had taken over the controls. "For those of you incarcerated, I understand not all of you are like us." he continued on as two White Fang members wielding high-powered rifles stepped through the single entrance and exit to the cell block. "However, we all have one common enemy: the ones who are to blame for all our individual hardships in life."

* * *

Back in the warden's office, Chains paced the room as he walked around behind the desk chair, currently occupied by the warden's freshly killed corpse, his head resting on the ground a foot away from the front of the rather-expensive looking oak desk. "Most of the prisoners in here have their reasons. You have broken laws, stolen possessions, taken lives, but for many of you, the charges you were found guilty upon, whether you had a trial or not, were because of your race. This can easily be fixed, but the humans in control of our kingdoms decide this shouldn't be so. That's where you all come in."

Throughout all the cell blocks, prisoners, mostly disgruntled, wrongly-imprisoned Faunus, stepped to the doors of their cells as they listened to the speech blaring over the loudspeakers.

"You have been deemed 'The worst society has to offer.'" Chains painfully reminded. "I give you an opportunity to challenge that label. All Faunus, this is your chance to fight back, and claim the rights you were denied that you deserve. Take up arms against your oppressors as we have! Join us as we make Remnant witness a revolution unlike anything it has ever seen!" he roared into the microphone.

As he did so, unnerved guards still untouched by the intruders that were the White Fang watched in horror as they doors to every cell in the prison were opened. Out from each occupied one stepped their inmates, some grinning at the thought of 'sticking it to the man' as they emerged with shivs and shanks they kept hidden during contraband searches in plain view in their grasps.

Mercury could only watch as his guards were taken down by joint efforts of the solitary inmates and White Fang riflemen in surprise in his block, right in front of his cell. Once they were finished with the guards, who were now corpses riddled with gunshots, stab wounds and numerous other kinds of injuries, they turned to him, and by the look on their faces, they didn't recognize him whatsoever. "Hey, what are you doing?" he asked, stepping backwards as the closest White Fang grunt turned their gun toward him. It was quite obvious they didn't recognize the former right-hand man to Cinder Fall, or they did, but simply didn't care. Either way, it was at that point the kickboxer realized they weren't here for him.

* * *

"An invasion? By the White Fang?" Blake gasped at the announcement.

"Yeah. Looks like they've gotten all the cells they can open. They've instigated a riot on the prison guards." Mei nodded, looking at the numerous screens in the command center of the Chess Initative's headquarters, all of them playing security camera footage from the prison outside. Across it, they saw White Fang grunts cooperating with the convicts to take on any prison guards or soldiers in their path. With the might of the terror organization, the Atlesian corrections officers were standing little of a chance.

"Well, what are we waiting for then?" Sun asked. "Let's get out there and kick their asses back into their cells!" he reasoned as he cracked his knuckles.

"Right." Noel nodded, looking over to the albino swordsman among them. "Mister Whitmore, take your team to help quell the riot."

"Yes, General." Snow nodded as Team STRM rushed out towards the exit of the hideout and into the prison. Sun and his group began to follow them out as they left.

"Not you guys." Qrow ordered.

"What? What about Team STRM's backup?" Neptune asked.

"They'll fair fine. Besides, I'm still your C.O., no matter how sidetracked we got from your mission." the drunkard smirked as his dejected Huntsmen in training complied with his orders.

"Then, what about us?" Ruby asked, assuming the same would be said about her offer to have her team help the upperclassmen.

"You eight are going to be taking defense positions." Winter answered.

"Defense? In a hidden area?" Weiss asked.

"Don't mistake the reasoning, Sister." Winter replied. "I have a feeling this isn't an ordinary assault."

"You're right." Blake nodded. "The White Fang's crazy, but they wouldn't attack Atlesian Military property without coordination and good reason."

"That's how they overtook Ironwood's fleet during their occupation of Vale." Yang added.

"And Chad was never one for coordination when planning our offensive strategies, at least at this scale." Marron shrugged.

"So, you're thinking he's not the one in charge?" Qrow asked.

"I'm not thinking. I'm stating a fact." the older Schnee sister answered. "There's a Fall's hand in this strike."

* * *

Outside, STRM had already engaged White Fang initiates as they came across the upperclassmen on their way to an armory. Snow used his weapon's glaive form to keep them at bay as Turk and Mei fired shotgun blasts and Dust-infused senbon at them. Once they were suppressed, the albino team leader rushed forward with Rocco, the two cutting through the group with their bladed weapons. Rocco was holding his own as he took the lead, knocking around the Faunus terrorists with his battle axe, while Snow kept up a slow pace and knocked an initiate that snuck by Rocco to the ground. Ready to incapacitate them with a kick to the head, but a haze suddenly overcame his vision. He attempted to blink it away, but looking down, he no longer faced a White Fang member on the ground, but a woman with white hair like his, covered in blood. "Snow...why couldn't you save me?" she asked.

"What?" he thought, backing away from the figure on the floor. "M-Mother?"

He suddenly snapped out of it as Rocco stepped into view, knocking the White Fang member out, then shaking his team leader by the shoulder. "Hey. Snow, you okay, bud?" the hard-rocker asked.

"I...am not sure..." the taller of the two answered before the haze returned again, this time being seen by all of Team STRM.

"What the..." Turk muttered, looking around, until another figure stepped towards them, an arm stretching away and pulling his weapons from his grasp.

"Turk...You've always been a disappointment..." Doctor Oys said angrily, stepping out of the haze and towards his son.

"D-Dad, stop..." Turk pleaded.

"What the fuck is going on?" Rocco asked, turning back to Snow, only for his leader to have been replaced by another new arrival only visible to the axe-wielding bassist. An older gentleman, with spines from an Ursa piercing through his back and protruding from his chest. "G-Grandad?" he gasped.

"Rocco...you let me die..." the older man responded. "Why...would you leave me to die?"

"That's not what happened!" he yelled in protest.

Outside of the circle of three of them, Mei watched in confusion as her three male teammates seemed to be losing their sense of reality in front of her. "What is this?" she asked as the haze overtook her vision as well. She felt a strong whack on the back of her head as she was knocked to the ground. Looking up, she saw three kids very familiar to her, one of them grinning as he held up a switchblade.

"Hah! I knew she was a bigger freak than we thought!" one of her childhood bullies laughed.

"My dad says Faunus parts are worth alot. Let's see if her's will make us rich!" the one with the knife nodded.

"N-No, please!" Mei begged before everything went black.

* * *

Violet watched in slight amusement as the team of Huntsmen writhed in fear in their comatose states on the floor, each muttering incoherent sentences of their worst fears they each were re-living in the illusion she had placed them under. "Very interesting.." she thought as she watched them, lookingup as Chains stepped forward, his men helping up those injured in their fight with STRM. "Your men are doing quite well, Chains." she complimented as the brute walked up to her.

"We have the whole facility under our control now. What's next?" he asked.

"Not exactly all of it." Violet answered, looking to a door down the hall and pointing towards it. "My main objective is in that room down the hall." she stated. "Disarm those four, throw them in cells, and assault that room."

"What about you?" Chains asked again.

"I'll join the fight again shortly." she slyly smirked, leaping into the ventilation shaft overhead as the White Fang commander began barking orders to his men, preparing their assault on this new target.


	19. Brainfreeze

"Ruby, anything on your end?" Yang asked, checking in from an ice tunnel further in the back of the tomb.

"Nothing." the reaper responded, standing on a catwalk overlooking the sealed Alpha Grimm. From it, she could see Weiss and Winter standing in front of the cell, and Noel, Qrow, and Marron across from her at the command center.

"I'm telling you guys, nobody knows this is even here." Sun commented from an emergency exit behind Ruby's position.

"Trust me, Mister Wukong." Winter spoke up. "If a Fall is leading this attack, they know where this is."

"If you say so." Scarlet announced from his and Sage's position in a hall to the right side of the cavern. "Neptune, what's it like by the ventilation shafts?" he asked, looking for Neptune to check in from the furthest point back from the front entrance: a closet that housed the main vents that took in and warmed air from the outside. "Nep?" the privateer asked again, gaining no response on the intellectual's end.

"I'll go check on him." Yang sighed. "Blake, cover my end until I get back." she called to her partner down the hallway from her, getting a nod in response before she turned on a heel to the vent room. After a few second of walking down the hall carved out of permafrost and ice-cold rock, the brawler reached the door, which was left open a crack. Opening it, Yang found Neptune in front of a large vent with the grate popped off. He was in a fetal position on the floor, spasming and mumbling incoherently about water or something. "Neptune?" Yang asked in surprise. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"Not the water...Don't go in..." he answered, still stuck in a nightmare he couldn't awaken from.

"Nep, what's gotten into you?" Yang asked again before she realized it had gotten rather hazy in this room all of a sudden. She waived a hand in front of her to try and fan it away, only to surprise herself: her hand no longer held half of her gauntlets on it. In fact, it seemed like a child's hand. Inspecting herself, it seemed like she was seven-years old again. "What the-" she thought aloud before she heard the familiar growling of a Beowulf. The haze dissipated, replaced with the backdrop of a very familiar, worn-down house on the far side of Patch Island.

"Yang, I'm scared..." She turned to see her much younger sister, Ruby, who had also reverted to a child, whimpered from the wagon behind them.

"What's going on?" Yang thought, the whole situation seeming familiar to her, before she saw a shadow walk past her. She turned to recognize her mother walking to the splintered door on the far end of the hall, where she cast a portal and walked through, leaving it open. "Mom, wait!" she called, running for the portal. Just as she reached it, the portal closed, and two Beowolves lunged at her with gaping maws as she screamed in fear.

* * *

"Yang?!" Blake shouted, hearing the scream from where her partner had just went. She ran towards it, rounding the corner as she drew Gambol Shroud in its pistol form. As she turned to face the closet, she immediately noticed the unfamiliar woman in a blue dress turned away from her. From around her, she could make out the legs of Neptune and Yang sprawled out in front of her, only guessing this intruder had incapacitated them. "Freeze!" she ordered, pointing her handgun at the woman.

She didn't respond for a second, turning slowly to face the cat Faunus. "You should be the one doing that." Violet responded, waiving her hand at Blake as a trio of icicles formed from the permafrost walls around them, before they sailed towards her at the speed of a bullet.

"Cinder?" Blake thought aloud before she blocked two icicles, using her semblance to take the third as she lunged forward for an attack.

"Is my resemblance that uncanny?" Violet asked, receiving Blake's attack and countering it with her own rapier, completely made of ice and seemingly drawn from thin air. She blocked the strike, pushing her back as a cloud of fog overtook Blake's vision.

She narrowed her amber eyes as she tried to see trough the haze, trying to figure where Violet would strike next, until she recognized a shadow to her left. Blake turned to intercept it, only for a biting pain to hit her in the abdomen. She cried out in surprise and pain as she fell to her back onto the ground, noticing through the pain that it wasn't as cold as the icy floor she stood on. Instead, she recognized the tile floor of Beacon's cafeteria. She looked down to her injury, seeing a familiar red blade jutting into her stomach. "Wh-What?" she gasped, recognizing Adam standing over her, Wilt jabbing into her middle. "Adam...why?" she asked, over the crackle of flames in the destroyed dining hall.

"You actually thought I wanted to make piece with the Humans?" 'Adam' responded. "Making piece with them is impossible! If only you could see that for yourself. So..." he continued, slowly drawing his katana back out. "..as I set out upon this world to deliver the justice mankind deserves...I will make it my personal mission to destroy everything you love."

Blake was flabbergasted. Why would Adam do this? After everything that they went through, after he defected to help them stop Cinder, he hadn't changed at all. She had to get away, get to her friends and warn them-

"Blake! Where are you?" she heard Yang call.

"I saw her go this way earlier!" Weiss added.

"Let's check the dining hall!" Ruby ordered.

"No..." Blake gasped in fear as she heard her friends' voices.

"Starting with them." Adam coldly glared down on her through his mask, turning away to face the rest of RWBY as they entered, readying their weapons as Adam redrew his blade upon stepping away from Blake as she began to bleed out. She could only lay there, paralyzed in fear and agony as she watched Adam prepare to hack her friends into pieces. All she could do was watch in horror.

* * *

"I'm sorry...I'm so so sorry!" Blake mumbled in her comatose state, Violet watching in amusement as she kicked the pair of blades away from the cat Faunus.

"Almost too easy." she sighed, moving down the hall again, both her and Blake ignoring Ruby's calling on her discarded earpiece, knocked off when she hit the ground.

* * *

"Blake? What's going on down there?" Ruby asked. "Where are Yang and Neptune?"

"I'm really hoping they're not doing what I think they're doing." Sun deadpanned.

"You and me both." Weiss spoke up, not wanting to think about her crush with her own teammate.

"Sage, let's go check on them." Scarlet suggested as he turned towards the back hallways, the towering swordsman right behind him. Just as the two went to go through the passage , they were both encased in a cone of ice up to their necks. "What the bloody hell?" he cried out as he found himself encompassed in ice.

Everyone else turned to face their position, watching as their intruder vaulted over the two incapacitated Huntsmen and towards the control center.

"Stop her!" Noel ordered as the remaining Huntsmen and Huntresses each moved to attack Violet.

Ruby didn't even think twice as she flicked off the safety of Crescent Rose and began firing at the intruder, while Weiss and Winter got up close to her, each aiming precise slashes towards her. Violet showed her prowess as she deflected each strike, as well as simply batted away the sniper rounds aimed at her with a simple wave of her hand. She might have been outnumbered, but here in an ice cavern, she was deep within her element. She used her energy to levitate more snow and ice around her hands as they compacted together, taking the shape of a dueling saber much like the one Winter wielded.

"Weiss, support me with glyph blasts!" Winter ordered as she dug her sword into the frosted floor, a pair of glyphs appearing next to her that each spawned a stark white Beowolf with blue eyes. Howling, both charged alongside Winter at Violet as Weiss stood back, summoning glyphs of her own as blasts of ice and wind fired from them.

Violet sidestepped the first volley from the younger Schnee's glyphs as she intercepted the first strike from one of Winter's Beowolves. With a flick of her wrist, she cut through its paw and slashed across its neck, causing the summoned beast to disappear in a cloud of white mist as it was defeated.

With one of her beasts down, Winter and her second Grimm attacked in tandem, Winter drawing her parrying blade from the hilt of her saber. Each slash or stab was blocked as Violet looked as though she had barely even broken a sweat. "I knew from the start you weren't fully on board with us." she said as the two locked blades, using her free hand to summon a set of icicles and impale her other Beowolf.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not exactly a fan of anarchy." Winter responded, putting more pressure on the close range duel as she drove her pommel towards Violet's chest, only for the Fall sister to catch it at the last possible moment.

Smirking, Violet put more of her strength into lifting Winter, then pulsing her Aura into throwing her back across the room, where she collided rather hard against the wall near the main entrance to the initiative's hideout.

"Winter!" Weiss called, ready to rush forward and check on her sister, who was slow to rise back to her feet. She was blocked as Violet caught her with a slash that the younger heiress nearly missed defending herself from.

In her place, Marron and Noel left their nearby post to check on their friend and daughter respectively, Qrow following to cover them as he kept an eye on the Fall sister. "You okay, Winter?" Marron asked as she pulled the Schnee to her feet.

"I'll live." Winter groaned, rubbing the back of her head, only to jump in surprise as the main entrance doors were blown off their hinges. Out from it poured a dozen or so White Fang grunts and disgruntled prisoners armed with shanks, shivs, or whatever they scavenged from incapacitated or dead guards. Among them as well, Chains sauntered to the front, revving his chainstaff as he glared down his two former comrades.

"I'll leave you three to catch up." Violet commented to the White Fang commander, waiving a hand across her view in front of the older Huntsmen and the White Fang as a wall of ice cut the two groups off from each other.

"Damn!" Qrow growled as he slammed a fist against the ice monolith around them. "We're sealed in."

"You have bigger problems than that, Human." Chains commented before he turned back to his old teammates. "And you two. It's unfortunate to see you again under these circumstances."

"Spare me the manners, Chad." Winter spat, drawing her blade as Marron readied Aurum Wing beside her.

"If you really were sorry, you wouldn't have joined up with a bunch of murderers." Marron glared at her and Winter's former team leader. "Is this what your family would have wanted?" she asked, trying to spark some empathy in her old friend.

Chains' eyes went to the floor. "I wouldn't know what they wanted." he said in a low tone. "When I went home to Menagerie after Beacon, I found out Huntsmen like you killed them, mistaking them for anarchists! That's something I can't forgive, especially after years of training to be one like them!"

Winter and Marron shared a look at each other as they learned of what had actually happened to their team leader from their days at the academy to after graduation. "Chad, if we had any idea..." Winter started to apologize.

"It would've changed nothing." Chains growled. "They're still gone, and Huntsmen are still going around getting off scott free for assaulting my people. If you weren't on the other side, maybe I wouldn't have to do this." With that said, he revved his weapon's motor, the rotating chains glistening in the faint light.

"We don't want to fight you, Chad." Winter glared, standing her ground as she, Marron, Qrow, and Noel readied their weapons.

"Neither do I." was his reply as the two sides charged each other.

* * *

 **Surprise! This fic isn't dead!  
**

 **I figured I'd surprise you all before Christmas with a chapter. Sorry it took so long, but I really had to focus on my college work so I didn't fail this semester. I'm now only a few credits away from earning my degree, so the more time I spent on that, the better. Anyway, let's see what I've missed covering since then: RWBY Volume 4 revealed some new stuff canon-wise, Tyrian pretty much confirms insectoid Faunus are a thing, Lindsey and Michael Jones are having a kid, Anna Hullum got hurt, Jaune's hoodie went on the RT Store and sold out before I could get one, I still haven't seen Rogue One, and Team STRM has their own profiles on the RWBY Fanon Wiki now!**

 **I think that's everything, so leave a follow or a comment if you've been enjoying the story so far and haven't done either of those yet, I'll see you lads and lasses next time, and Happy Holidays!**

 **P.S., FUCK 2016**


	20. Worst Nightmares

Ruby, Weiss, and Sun tensed up as they heard an explosion followed by the revving of a familiar-sounding chainsaw motor. The two Team RWBY members suddenly became more concerned now that they knew Chains was in the frey, and their families were defending themselves from them.

"So you're the Fall sister Winter's been in contact with?" Weiss asked, switching Myrtenaster to its fire Dust cartridge.

"And you're the ones that defeated my disgrace of a little sister, Cinder." Violet responded as she continued to introduce herself with a curtsy. "Violet Fall. I've already defeated your friends. The White Fang have overrun this prison, and subsequently, this base. Lay down your weapons, and I'll let you live."

"And if we don't?" Sun spat back, the grip on his bo staff tightening as the three noticed a slight scowl forming on the Fall sister's face.

"Then, like I said, you'll be eliminated." she answered, as an icy blue glow came over her hands. Sun almost didn't have time to react as a plethora of icicles sharp as a spearhead erupted from the floor around the three of them, the blonde Faunus boy feeling one scrape by his pant leg and leave a rip in his jeans as he jumped backwards. Ruby and Weiss also dodged a slash, Weiss forming a glyph to block a strike from Violet as she tried to vault over one of the icicles around them and attack from above. Ruby countered with a slash from Crescent Rose that in turn missed as the icy infiltrator jumped down from Weiss' glyph and began unleashing a flurry of attacks that kept all three at bay, even with the longer reach their Huntsman weapons had over the saber Violet wielded.

It was during this part of the scuffle Sun decided to take a different approach. Breaking apart his staff, he began firing his gunchucks at Violet, each blast of buckshot coming in rapid succession after another. What he didn't know was Violet was counting on this. As she locked blades with Weiss, she formed a large wave-shaped wall of ice to her back to protect herself from the gunfire, making Sun have to get around to reengage her. Once again, all part of her plan. As Sun tried to run around the wall, the ice wave rolled over him as if it were unfrozen seawater, pinning him to the ground and re-freezing over the Faunus.

"Sun!" Ruby gasped as she tried to turn away to help her comrade out from under the ice he was in. Just as she touched the ground with her hand to try and help him out of the frozen layer of ice he was trapped under, her vision became overtaken by a strange fog. As she waived it away, the ice her hand touched was gone, replaced by polished stone that seemed to have something carved into it. She squinted before making out what the text read through the remaining fog over the stone: "Summer Rose: Thus, I kindly scatter." She was at her mother's grave all of a sudden.

"What the-" she thought aloud before gagging as a chain wrapped tightly around her neck, jerking her backward as she struggled to fight free from it, only to be pulled to a sudden hard landing on the floor of a cave, one she recognized immediately in fear. "Oh no..."

"Oh yes."

She looked up in horror to see a familiar figure in a White Fang uniform, pulling off his mask to reveal someone she hoped never to see again in her life. "This is gonna be fun." Timber smirked wickedly.

* * *

"No, NO, NOOOO!" Ruby suddenly shrieked in the outside world, rolling into a fetal position and dropping her scythe as she relived that haunting memory from over a year ago.

"Ruby!" Weiss cried out as she ran over to her team leader, trying to snap her out of the sudden nightmare her team leader found herself in before looking up to the enemy as she failed. "What have you done to her?" Weiss demanded.

"It's more what the past has done to her." Violet answered cryptically. "Out of all the people that have fallen victim to my semblance, this is by far the most...vocal reaction I've gotten out of a target." she noted over Ruby's cries and begging for it to stop.

"You're a telepath." Weiss glared, realizing what this meant. Violet could tap into the minds of anyone she chose and make them live their greatest fears, or in Ruby's case, their worst memories. "Snap her out of it now."

"You don't have any power in this case, Schnee." Violet answered, denying Weiss' demand as her blue eyes began to glow, a fog appearing between them. "As long as I'm present in this battle, you have no way to stop me." she finished before her voice and figure faded into the fog that now completely surrounded Weiss. The duelist even noticed Ruby had stopped making sounds. In fact, Ruby had disappeared entirely as well. Drawing Myrtenaster back, she scanned the vicinity through the thick fog, trying to see anything through it.

As it finally began to clear, Weiss could see a figure standing a few feet in front of her. Walking up to it, she suddenly felt herself bump into a wall-like surface. Backing away, her eyes widened as she took in the sight. It was a mirror, not unlike the large full-length one in her room. The reflection it cast was her main focus. It was Weiss, however a couple years younger, her face unmarred by the scars she wore in the present. She brought a hand to her face to see if this was a trick of some sort, but she startled herself when she felt her flawless alabaster skin near her left eye, just as the mirror was showing her presently.

She didn't have long to marvel in this as out of her peripheral vision, she caught the tip of a massive blade being driven towards her. Rolling to the side, she almost couldn't dodge the massive bastard sword that had smashed through the mirror she stood in front of. Looking back to her attacker, Weiss noticed that the fog had now fully cleared. She now stood in the familiar hall her father made her practice her skills in before she attended Beacon, and wielding the sword was the Giant Armor that scarred her those couple years ago. As it retracted the sword to face her, a voice echoed throughout the enormous hall.

"Sloppy."

Her father, Silbern Schnee, was now standing in the cracked mirror, scowling at her as she ducked under another swipe of the Armor's sword, trying for a stab at the possessed suit of armor before its free hand grabbed her, throwing her across the room. She winced as she rebounded off the floor, the wind being slammed out of her as she rolled to a stop, coughing and gasping for air.

"Inadequate."

The mirror now stood behind her against the wall as she stood back up. In fact, it still stood at the other end of the hall, and twelve more times around the room in a circle Weiss and the Armor stood inside. Ignoring the voice and the shattered reflections of her father, Weiss growled as she dashed forward at the Armor again, parrying two countering blows and going for a stab at the helmet's viewing area, only to be swatted aside by the flat side of its blade and back to the floor. She watched as her Aura visibly fluctuated with a white glow, before disappearing completely.

"Failure." Silbern spoke again, disappointment thick in his voice as Weiss staggered to her feet, the Armor standing a few meters away as it readied a heavy strike to finish her. "You disappoint me, Weiss. You can't even beat this creature? How do you expect to survive out in the real world? In an uncontrolled battle? You'll never make it out there, now give up."

"Never!" Weiss screamed as she dashed towards the Armor, channeling what was left of her Aura into this next strike.

"You'll only get yourself more hurt." Silbern seethed as the Armor began to heave its sword upward.

"SHUT UP!" was Weiss' shrieking retort as she struck the chestplate, only in disappointment to see it did little damage as the Armor dragged its blade downward across Weiss' face. Crying out in pain, Weiss faceplanted against the floor, Myrtenaster, scattering out of reach in between two of the mirrors around her. As her vision returned, she could see her reflection in the polished tile flooring, a dripping of blood quickly coating it. Her scars now adorned her face; both old and new and freely flowing dark red fluid from them.

Heavy footsteps echoed in her head as the Armor stepped forward, readying its sword to finish its opponent. "This is why you failed. This is why I've disowned you!" Silbern roared now as the reflections glared her down in anger. "You've never listened to me! You've disobeyed everything I've ordered of you. Face it, Weiss. You will never live up to my potential, and for that, you'll be a failure all your miserable life!" he yelled as the Armor's blade began to drive down towards its target, unmoving on the floor and still looking down at it.

"...You're right." Weiss answered quietly.

The blade never made contact with the white-haired girl on the floor, Instead, above Weiss, a large white glyph glowed like an angel's halo, spinning rapidly as a bright blue, ethereal blade that matched that of the Armor towering over her blocked its finishing blow.

"You're absolutely right about one of those things." Weiss answered quietly as she began to stand. "I will never live up to your potential, Father. I've lived my life how I see fit, only for you to continuously put me down."

The sword appearing from the glyph began pushing the Armor in front of her backwards, an arm and shoulder now poking out from it.

"You say I'm a failure, but to me, to my friends, to my true family, I'm not."

The Armor now dropped to one knee, its determination buckling as a bright blue reflection of itself stepped out of the Glyph, slowly overpowering the creature as it pressed downward and Weiss stood upright, her scars still present but no longer bleeding.

"And as long as I stand and fight for them, I never will fail them!" Weiss shouted, her Armor suddenly raising its sword again, catching the Armor off balance before the massive blue blade cut across it horizontally, throwing it backwards and through the wall of the hall they stood in, each mirror shattering into shards as the Armor crashed through the wall and a blinding light filled the room.

* * *

"WHAT ON REMNANT?" Violet could only shriek in shock as she looked up to the glowing suit of armor that towered over her, the origin point coming from the glyph Weiss now stood in front of. She blinked as her vision returned, noticing how she now stood with Myrtenaster pointed at Violet, a giant version of the Armor she defeated those years ago standing over her with its blade pointed at the Fall sister.

"What the- Weiss?"

She looked down to see Ruby had awoken, now out of her trance. The ice around Sun was also receding as the monkey Faunus broke free from the frozen sheet he was trapped under.

"Woah, what the hell is that?" Sun asked as he fully unfroze.

With a smirk, Weiss answered, looking at a now infuriated Violet. "Her downfall."

With a roar, Violet used the last of her Aura to set forth a tsunami of snow and ice to bowl over the three Huntsman and Huntresses and the Armor Weiss had summoned. "Now!" Weiss ordered her familiar to strike, the Armor bringing its blade down through the massive wave, cutting through and dispelling it before the blade beam it cast continued on to Violet, striking her and pushing her into the console in front of the Alpha Grimm's prison. Her Aura flickered and broke, a large shallow gash across her chest and stomach now bleeding freely as everything she used her Aura abilities to create and cause dispelled. Blake, Yang, and Neptune snapped out of their trances in confusion in the vent room. Sage and Scarlet shivered as the ice they were trapped inside suddenly broke off of them. The wall that separated Qrow, Marron, Winter, and Noel during their fight with Chains melted away, revealing the five had ceased their fight to take in the view of the main room, and find Weiss and her Armor standing over a defeated Violet Fall.

"She did it." Marron noted in awe as the Armor began to disappear at Weiss' command.

"Well done, little sister." Winter nodded as she and Noel looked on in pride.

"Why you little-" Chains growled as he stepped forward to try and save Violet, only for the blade of Qrow poised at his throat to cut him off.

"Not so fast, big guy." Qrow demanded, keeping watch on the White Fang luitenant as the rest of the younger Huntsmen and Huntresses gathered around the main terminal.

"Man, what happened in here?" Yang asked, looking around.

"How long were we out?" Neptune asked.

"Not important right now." Ruby answered. "We're all okay." she smiled before turning her attention to Violet with a leer. "And she's beaten.

"Surrender." Weiss ordered, Myrtenaster pointed at the wounded Violet.

"I will not yield to you, Schnee..." Violet sneered as she vaulted over the console as Weiss stabbed at the floor she once stood on. Looking up, Violet now stood on a platform immediately in front of the energy shield the Alpha Grimm was encased in, a stiletto of permafrost poised at her heart. "There's more than one way I can accomplish what I needed to do here today." she finished.

"Don't try it, Fall!" Noel ordered from behind them as she, Winter, and Marron ran up from behind the others. "You have no idea what kind of evil you'll unleash on Atlas!"

"Oh...how wrong you are." Violet shook her head. "You are the ones who have no idea what you've unleashed here today."

"No! Don't!" Ruby tried to shout out, but it was too late. With a grunt, the stiletto pierced through Violet's chest by her own hand. With a cough of blood and a staggering step backward, the Fall fell backwards into the energy shield, absorbed into the incomplete body of the massive abomination inside. The red eyes and markings began to glow from red to blue, and the head started to look up towards the thirteen individuals left in the room.

"Everyone! Evacuate the building now!" Winter ordered as everyone, even Chains, ran for the exit, the cave shaking as the energy field surrounding the Grimm began to falter.

* * *

Out in the prison, STRM began to come to as emergency alarms and a loud rumble started to echo througout the facility.

"What's going on?" Turk asked nobody in particular as White Fang members ran past them in fear.

"Whatever it is, we better leave too." Mei agreed as the four upperclassmen began to head for the exit.

* * *

"Well...That's not good." Mercury thought to himself as he began to saunter out of the maximum security section, leaving a mess of bodies and writhing wounded White Fang members and fellow prisoners in his wake.

* * *

On a cliff overlooking the prison facility, October watched the cliffside it was built into crumble and shake with his eyes narrowing more so by the second.

"That's...not part of the plan, is it, Daddy?" Viridia asked, pulling her cloak down as she looked towards the prison as well.

"...We need to leave now." October ordered, turning back to the Griffon waiting behind them and walking towards it.

"What about Violet?" Viridia asked.

"She has failed us. I specifically told her not to resort to the contingency plan." October responded.

"What contingency?" Viridia asked again.

"...Becoming one with it." October responded, not noticing Viridia's eyes widening as she realized what her father meant. "Now come. We need to return to Mistral."

* * *

In front of the prison, General Ironwood had a strike team already poised to retake the prison when he received word that it had fallen under the White Fang's attack. Multiple armored truck, mechs, and gunships hovered in position as he and Penny watched from the command post, only for the sudden shaking of the ground and mountains around them to put everyone on edge.

"General, this isn't a natural earthquaking event." Penny noted. "Scans are showing the epicenter coming from a cavern behind the prison under the mountain."

"I'm aware, Penny." Ironwood responded, knowing what that meant. "All forces, fall back!"

The order never was given in time as the shaking suddenly intensified, a smoky black claw driving out of the wall of the prison, followed by another before the facility crumbled in a cloud of rubble and smoke. Out from it walked the largest Ursa ever seen by any living soul on that strike team, its eyes glowing blue along with the markings that adorned the bone plating across its back, arms, and legs. With a deafening roar that could be heard all across the tundra, a sense of dread filled everyone as Grimm began to appear, answering the call of the behemoth. As Penny looked up at the beast in horror, Ironwood pulled his Scroll to his face.

"This is General Ironwood! All forces retreat to Atlas City. We have a Code Black Grimm threat on our hands; I repeat, Code Black!"


End file.
